


Of Hope and Pain

by Amed



Category: Warcraft - All Media Types, World of Warcraft
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Arthas/Varian/Calia Friendship!, Backstory, Bolvar/Varian Friendship!, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, F/M, Fem!Varian, Gender or Sex Swap, Male!Tiffin, Minor canon changes, Old time-line
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-16
Updated: 2015-09-06
Packaged: 2018-01-15 21:32:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 22,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1319929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amed/pseuds/Amed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a 'What if...' type of AU with a Fem!Varian (because I can) and few little canon-changes.</p><p>Learn the back story of Bolvar Fordragon and how he came from being a low-ranking soldier's son to becoming Regent of Stormwind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! And welcome to my fic!  
> Note that english is not my first language, and I don't have a beta-reader, so I apologize if there's any mistake lingering in there (I checked, and there shouldn't be, but...).  
> Enjoy and read the notes at the end!
> 
> Chapter's warning: Genderswap (it's just the prologue, so it doesn't have anything really wort mentioning in here)
> 
> Disclaimer: All the characters and locations belong to Blizzard Entertainments, I make no money from this.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Curiosity can lead to troubles and life-changing decisions...

" _I still remember the first time I saw you. You shouldn't have been more than six years old._

_I wasn't that much older myself, barely two years your senior; and I was surely getting in trouble by spying on the King's daughter."_

/-/-/-/-/-/

The sun was shining brightly upon Stormwind's training grounds; but he opted to stay hidden in the shadows.

He knew he shouldn't be here, he should be training with the rest of his class, but his curiosity hasn't disappeared since he heard the rumors this morning.

The King's daughter was starting her training today.

He wasn't the curious type, but this was such a unique chance he just couldn't let it pass.

Everyone knew about the young princess and the King's unexpected decision to name her his sole heir. Although it was not unheard of a woman joining the ranks of the army –his own mother was proof of that-, to have a princess become a warrior and future ruler was something without precedents.

So it was understandable why for him, the only son of two low ranking soldiers, the prospect of even glancing at the princess was irresistible.

It has been so irresistible that, at the first opportunity he got, he sneaked away from his trainers and went in search of the famous royalty.

The princess would be learning from Master Hjalmar Anvilmar, which was a great feat on itself. The old dwarf's training was known to all aspirant soldiers as the ultimate proof of skills, because he never trained someone he didn't considered worthy; and even then, he usually took in people with at least some previous experience.

So it said a lot about the King's daughter that Master Anvilmar was the one to start her training; and if rumors had it right, she also received personal tutelage from Sir Anduin Lothar.

That just made her all the more impressive in his mind, and Light be damn if he'd let this chance go to waste.

He'll take his punishment later.

The sight of the princess itself wasn't really that extraordinary, she was wearing the same training clothes he himself wore, and there was nothing that indicated her status. No jewelry, no fancy piece of garment, nothing. Just plain old leather armor.

That somehow just made it more especial.

Her grip on the training sword wasn't that great, but it wasn't as bad as most beginner's, so maybe she did have some previous knowledge.

Looking at her for the first time, she didn't look a lot like her father. Granted, he had seen King Llane only a few times, and always from a distance, but the young princess didn't have his golden hair.

No, she had dark brown, short hair instead. Too short actually, compared to what he normally saw on high-class women, and it wasn't tied up on a fancy manner nor decorated with expensive jewelry. But it seem to fit in with the rest of her attire, showing no sort of distinction from anyone else, she was just a trainee like the rest.

She must have taken after her mother. Unfortunately he haven't seen the woman so far, the poor Queen had a week heart and didn't leave the Keep that much.

Her eyes, however, were definitely her father's.

They were the same stormy blue that characterized the Wrynn family, and they were tingling with excitement while she tried to mimic Anvilmar's movements.

The shinning in her eyes made him want to get out of hiding and approach the little group. Surely Master Anvilmar wouldn't mind if he just went to pay his respects to the princess, right?

"Bolvar Fordragon!" the calling of an angry voice had him turning around to face the imposing figure of his mother.

Mara Fordragon was a woman of a strong will and a kind heart; she loved her son dearly and defended her kingdom with all her might.

That only served as a reminder that he should not have sneaked out of class.

"You should be training" the woman of long brown hair and clear blue eyes had her hands on her hips, in a pose Bolvar had learned to fear since a young age.

He swallowed and looked down in shame, there was nothing he could say to defend himself and he was ready to face the proper punishment.

"What were you doing anyway?" Mara asked, turning to see through the window her son had been previously looking through. He was her son after all; there must be a very good reason for him to skip training.

One floor down, in the training fields, there was Anvilmar teaching his students, which was something impressive to see, but was nowhere near as impressive as a certain little dark brunette.

The young princess of Stormwind.

She smiled, as any soldier she felt a great sense of pride for King Llane's daughter, and as a citizen of Stormwind, she had great hopes put on her.

As a mother she knew that was a lot of pressure resting on such a small child's shoulders, but seeing her right now, seeing the sloppy, yet confident grip she had on her training sword and the fiery look burning in her eyes she had no doubts that she would live up to the people's expectations.

"Let's go" she told her son, turning to walk back on her steps "You won't be able to protect Princess Varian if you miss on your training" she would let him off the hook for now, even she had to admit that Varian Wrynn was a damn good reason to do what he did.

Bolvar nodded and followed after her, stealing one last glance at the field bellow and the little girl training there.

He would become the greatest soldier this Kingdom has ever seen, and he will protect her at any cost.

It's a promise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> About the story: Well, I'm a big fan of Varian, and I love Bolvar a lot. You don't really have much of a background story for Bolvar, you don't even know how he's related to Mara (if he is related to her), how he and Varian met, nor how he became the King's most trusted man.  
> I'm also a huge fan of genderswap/genderbending and Bolvar/Varian...and those are the main reasons why I did this.
> 
> What to expect from this Story:  
> _Genderswap in two cases, those being Varian and Tiffin (who we're going to call Tyffin as it sounds slightly more manly), meaning they are both going to be from the opposite gender from the start.  
> _Some minor changes from what's the official lore are made to fit it in with this story. But not that much, what changes mostly is the time-lines and things like that (meaning, the time in which an event happened or the time that passes between one event and another), but nothing major. I mostly stick with Blizz's old time-line (as the last they published makes no sense whatsoever in some parts).  
> _Rating will go up, as both Bolvar and Varian grow up and experience different things. I may add some explicit sex scenes, but I'm not sure yet.  
> _Most of the story is going to be from Bolvar's PoV (like this prologue), some chapters will have a little introduction in first person (like this one) and once in a while, there would be a special chapter in Varian's PoV (with a little introduction from someone else's).


	2. Chapter I:

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fall of Stormwind through Mara Fordragon's eyes (set at the end of the First War, around twenty years before the event is World of Warcraft).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter's warnings: Some violence (I don't think is that much graphic thou), I don't wanna say ooc as you don't really know much about the characters (this is mainly on Mara's PoV), minor OCs (original characters), a kind of big lore change (explained at the bottom notes), and ultra-fanatics of the orcs may feel a little offended in some parts (I don't think there's nothing really offensive here, and keep in mind that this is during the First War, so orcs are still under demonic control and blood thirsty).
> 
> Disclaimer: Names and places belong to Blizzard Entertainments, the rest is mine, but I make no money from this!

" _The second time we met, the circumstances were anything but good._

_I never thought, not even in my darkest nightmares, that our Kingdom would come to such a tragic end._

_But then again, no one ever dreamed that the mighty Kingdom of Stormwind would fall against invaders from another world…"_

/-/-/-/-/-/

The Church's bells were sounding the alarm, and their ringing could be heard over the people's screams and the sounds of battle. It served to increase the confusion and despair, and the distant voice of someone proclaiming that the enemies have reached the Keep made the truth all the more real in everyone's hearts.

Stormwind has fallen.

Bolvar was pushing through the people, trying to get to his mother, he needed to help her. He was wearing his training armor and holding his father's sword. He wasn't even twelve years old, but he just needed to do something to help the others.

"Barricade that bridge! Get the people out of here!" Mara's voice was barely heard over the sound of battle, and it was the only thing that kept the soldiers from breaking line.

Bolvar couldn't see the attackers from his position -his height wasn't really helping-, but he have seen some of them gathering before the City's gates before the battle started; plus, he have seen their ambassador, the half orc called Garona.

He has heard about the orc's ferocity in battle, and he saw nothing that proved otherwise, judging by the smoke rising from the Keep's direction.

There was no time to ponder about the King's fate or to worry about the Gate's defenders, he needed to get to his mother, and he needed to make sure she was alright.

He just has to.

"Mother!" he called as soon as he saw her.

Mara finished off with an orc that was trying to get pass their barricade, sinking her sword deep into the beast's neck –the weakest link in their armor-, and turned around to see who was calling her.

"Bolvar!" her heart almost stopped when she saw her son standing there, but she was sort of relieved, because he was alive.

"What are you doing here?! Get back!" she left her post, getting replaced immediately by another soldier, to go to him and grab him by the shoulder, pushing him away from the fight.

At that moment, a private came running towards Commander Saumell, her commanding officer, and seeing the despair in the soldier's eyes and posture, she decided to go see what was happening.

She took Bolvar with her, it was better to keep him by her side; it would make her feel calmer.

"…lost, only a few made it out. Sir…" they got in hearing distance half-way through the private's report, but they could imagine what he was talking about "…the King's dead"

A deafening silence felt upon them, not because the battle and the screaming people had stop, but because the news made their dire situation all the more hopeless.

"And the royal family?" Commander Saumell asked, wishing there was still some hope, something to fight for.

"We don't know, sir" the private shook his head and answered, breaking their hopes with that short sentence.

Mara swallowed hard, the sound of swords clashing and people screaming slowly coming back to her ears, and she knew she couldn't give up now.

There were still people that needed to be saved, citizens that needed to be taken to safety, and a city that needed to be evacuated.

She still had her son to protect.

"Sir, we have to get this people out of here!" she told Commander Saumell, trying to get the man out of his shock "Sir!" she yelled, grabbing his shoulder to make him look at her.

What she saw in his eyes was total and absolute lost, the man didn't know what to do, and they didn't have the time to wait for him to get a grip on himself.

"Round the people up, lead them to the port. Have at least five soldier with you" she pulled the private towards the masses, getting the attention of everyone around.

"Grab all the provisions you can get, keep the women and children in the middle of the group, stay together!" everyone followed her orders without a question, they needed someone to guide them, to tell them what to do so they could keep their minds distracted.

Mara got close to the soldiers defending the barricade, turning Sergeant Milles, the one in charge, around to get his attention.

"Anything you can do to buy us some time?" she asked with a serious expression, letting him know that whatever was needed would be done, no matter what.

Sergeant Milles thought for a while, looking around for something that may help them, and as soon as he got an idea, he communicated it to his superior.

"We have enough explosives to blow up that tower" he said pointing to the Church's left tower "But I'll need a few minutes to set them up" he said, sheathing his sword and going to get the explosives.

"You got them. As soon as you're ready, signal us from that window and we'll clear out the area" Mara helped him gather up the dynamite for transport, and before he left, she took his arm and told him some last words "Once the tower's down, we'll meet back at the docks, understood?"

Sergeant Milles swallowed hard but nodded, continuing on his way without looking back.

Both knew that was an order he won't be able to fulfill.

Mara went back to the soldiers, ordering all those who knew how to use a gun to load them and form a line behind the rest.

"Mother!" the sound of Bolvar's cry had her turning around, fearing the worst, and she saw him struggling against the soldiers that were pushing him with the other children.

"Bolvar, get back!" she ordered, helping the soldiers pull him away from the battle.

"No!" he freed himself from their restriction, and looked up to his mother with determination in his eyes "I want to fight!"

Mara swallowed, she understood the boy's wishes to join the battle, but she knew there was nothing he could do to help.

"Son…" she kneeled down and grabbed his shoulders, forcing him to look at her in the eyes "You need to stay with the people; you need to help them reach the ports"

"But…" Bolvar tried to protest, but she was not hearing it.

"There would be a time for you to fight for this city, so  _live_  to get to that day!" she was not letting her only son die for a lost cause.

Today the city was lost, tomorrow they'll get it back, but they needed to live through the night.

Bolvar nodded, still a little reluctant, and went back to the people, doing his best to calm down the scared children.

Mara, once again besides the soldier at the barricade, looked up to the Church's tower.

It only took a minute for a little light to be seen on the window, and that was the signal she has been waiting for,

She called for retreat, and had the Rangers fire against the approaching Horde, giving the soldiers enough time to clear out before the explosion.

For a moment all she could see was the dust from the fallen debris, and all she could hear was an ear-piercing ringing.

She was able to distinguish a figure coming at her and a war cry in a strange language resounding in the distance, and she reacted right on time to block the axe coming down on her with her sword.

The orc seemed to have taken several gun-shots and was bleeding from a wound on his head –probably caused by a piece of the broken tower that had hit him-, but that didn't stopped him from attacking relentlessly.

Mara blocked the coming blows as best as she could, but her mind was still recovering from the explosion and fear was slowly overtaking her heart.

There was no way to stop them, what would they ever do?

One second she let the fear paralyze her, only one second it took for the orc to land a successful blow on her.

The orc's axe cut diagonally from her left hip up to her right shoulder, the strength of the attack piecing her armor and knocking her back a few feet.

She staggered and fell down on one knee, her sword falling from her limp hand to the floor.

She closed her eyes and surrender to her fate, only hoping that Bolvar had made it out of the city.

"Knight Fordragon!" but she didn't felt the pain from the killing blow or the numbing silence of death.

Mara opened her eyes and saw Commander Saumell standing in front of her, his sword raised and still dripping blood, and behind him, a bloodied body felt to the ground.

Commander Saumell turned around and grabbed her by the arm, giving her only enough time to grab her sword before pulling her up and pushing her towards the docks.

The run to the docks was longer than what they remembered, and the pain on her side made her sight blur. Her vision darkened for a second and when it cleared again they were already at their destiny.

Every single ship on port was letting people on board, regardless of the type of vessel, and she could see already two have set sail away from shore.

Soldiers have line up and were shooting against the orcs coming at them –there were two ways to reach the ports, Mara have just delayed the Horde's passing through one-, while every citizen that was fast enough boarded the ships.

"Stand your ground!" she screamed once she reached the soldiers "Get those cannons ready!" she pointed to the only war vessel on port, and a soldier ran to do her binding.

Commander Saumell let her go, sitting her on the floor and checking on her wound.

He didn't say anything, but he didn't need to, she already knew.

' _Light, grant me the strength'_  Mara closed her eyes and breathed deeply.

This could not be her end, she needed to see this through, and she needed to make sure this people would survive.

She needed to make sure her son would live.

' _Just give me some more time'_  a soothing warmth surrounded her body and she was able to breath easily again.

"Mother!" her son's voice reached her ears and she opened her eyes.

"Bolvar!" she hugged him once he was close enough, holding him tight in her arms "Praise the Light" she kissed the top of his head, tears of relief on her eyes.

Mara would have loved to stay like this for longer, but reality demanded otherwise.

She released him and ordered him to board the warship, commanding the soldiers to slowly retreat and board as well.

Once the last two ships holding the citizens were at a good distance from the docks, she ordered the warship to get in position to bombard the nearby buildings, to bring the structure down and block the way to the port –at least long enough to scape.

The sounds of battle slowly faded away, and as the sight of the burning city grew distant, the adrenaline began to dissipate from their veins.

Several soldiers felt to the floor exhausted mentally, physically or both. Now with nothing to keep their minds distracted, the severity of their situation weighed heavily on their hearts.

"Mom…" she kneeled down and extended her arms towards her son, who immediately hugged her with all his might, tears starting to slowly fall from his eyes.

She patted his hair, letting some of her own tears fall.

What was lost would never come back, and she would forever have the burden of all those lives she was not able to save on her shoulders.

' _Light guide us…'_  she prayed.

She prayed for safety, she prayed for a place to go, she prayed for a safe trip, she prayed to find an answer, and she prayed to find a way.

She prayed because there was nothing else to do now but to pray and mourn.

"Sir…" one of the soldiers neared Commander Saumell, he seem to be part of the ship's crew "Where should we head to?"

The older man looked at the soldier for a while, but then turned around towards the two Fordragons.

"It's not really my place to tell…" he said looking at Mara in the eyes, and she understood what he meant.

"Lordaeron" she said, still holding on to her son.

She didn't know what made her think of Lordaeron, but something told her that that's where they should go, that they would find refuge there.

And there was nothing but her instinct to follow now.

"Signal the other ships and have someone send a message to the capital cities of all the other Kingdoms, we're going to need all the help we can" the soldier nodded and went to do as he was told.

Mara sighed tired and looked up to the sky. The sun have already hiden under the horizon, it's last rays of light painting the world of warm oranges and pinks, and both moons where easily seen between the clouds, while one single star was shining high in the sky.

That star leaded north, and they would follow it to, hopefully, a better tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lore changes: those of you who know about the evacuation of Stormwind after the first war may have noticed that neither Lothar nor Varian was mentioned here. Well, that's because I changed it a bit.  
> The over-all result is the same and not really much changes, just wanted to clarify that. How they escaped the city and why I decided to changed it is showed in the next chapter.
> 
> About Mara, well, this is all my take on her. You don't really know much about her, so this is all my invention. I won't call it OC as it's a character from the lore, but...
> 
> Thank you for reading and hope you liked it! =)


	3. Additional-Chapter I: Varian's Pain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first of the 'Additional-Chapters' which focus on Varian's PoV of things (they may not all be written in Varian's PoV, but will definitely focus more on her), this one in specific, it's about Stormwind's fall during the first war.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter's Warnings: Genderswap, little gore (I would say little violence actually), some lore-changes (explained at the end-notes), OCed cannon characters (also explained at the end-notes). and ultras-extreme fanatic of orcs may fell somewhat offended in some parts (keep in mind this is during the time of demon-corrupted, blood-thirsty orcs).
> 
> Disclaimer: The lore belongs to Blizzard, all the rest is mine.

" _The King was pacing from one side of the room to another. He needed to do something; otherwise he would barge through that door and see what was going on._

_His wife, the Queen, was giving birth._

_For Llane this was a very stressful moment. His wife Taria has already been pregnant twice before this one, one was a miscarriage and the other a stiff born; so even if he prayed for the safety of both his wife and child, he couldn't help but fear the worst._

_Sited on a chair near the door, his mother was with her hands closed in a silent prayer; and standing rigid in a corner, Sir Anduin Lothar watched his King with concern._

_The thick wood double-doors that separated them from the delivery room did nothing to silence the Queen's pained screams, and it made the tension on the air all the more unbearable._

_The night passed away slowly and it was a torture for the King, but when the sunrise came, silence fell upon them._

_There was no screaming, no crying, nothing, and Llane felt his heart on his throat for all it lasted._

_After minutes that felt like years, the muffled sound of an infant's cry reached their ears, and relief and joy swept through their systems._

_Queen-mother Varia got up and embraced her son, and Sir Lothar relaxed his posture, giving his King a warm smile._

" _Your majesty…" the sound of the doors opening and the voice of one of the priestess interrupted them, and Llane rushed inside the other room._

_Inside, lying on the bed looking exhausted, his wife was holding a tiny bumble covered in white clothes._

_Pride was already swiping through the King's body, and he didn't even know how his heir looked like, or what it was._

_Llane reached the bed and sat besides his wife, hugging her and placing a kiss on her sweaty forehead, and looked down to what she was holding._

_The baby was tiny, it's face was chubby and red, a little mop of dark brown hair was seen on top of its head, and it was still covered in blood and fluids._

_And it was the most beautiful thing Llane has ever seen._

" _It's a girl" his wife said while reluctantly passing the baby to one of the priestess, so they could wash it._

_Llane smiled and hugged his wife tighter, he didn't care about the baby's gender, he never did, he just wanted it to be healthy._

_Her. He has a_ daughter _, and_ she _is healthy._

_Once the baby was clean and in his arms, he called for his mother and one of the priestess went to look for her._

_The Queen-mother immediately neared her first grandchild, stopping only to place a comforting hand on her daughter-in-law's shoulder, she most of all knew what she just went through._

" _This is your granddaughter" Llane said showing her the little baby, to the joy of the elder woman._

_Varia looked with love at the infant nestled between the covers and her son's arms._

_She was glad for the child's well-being and she knew her family would love her no matter what, but she also knew about politics and that the lords of the Kingdom would prefer a prince over a princess._

" _Son…" she called, it was a pity to ruin such a joyful moment with such ridiculous things, but they had to._

_A King's life was not his own, and he should always do what was best for the Kingdom._

" _No" Llane said, he already knew what she wanted to talk about "I don't need any more children"_

" _Love…" his wife said, holding on to his arm._

_Pregnancy has been difficult and labor was painful, and both have endangered her and the child's life, but as a Queen, Taria also knew what was needed._

" _She is enough" he didn't wanted his wife to endanger her life again, not just so the nobles would have their preferred heir to the throne "She is perfect"_

" _The House of Nobles would pressure to get a prince" his mother said, she wanted Llane to really_ understand _what it meant to have a female ruling a Kingdom "It won't be easy for her"_

" _I know she can do it" maybe it was asking too much from a new born, but his daughter would have the best role model she could get "I know she'll become a great ruler just like you are, mother"_

_When his father, King Adamant Wrynn III die, he has still been too young to take the throne, and during the time it took him to get ready for the responsibilities, his mother have taken over the government of the Kingdom, and she had done an excellent job at keeping it safe and prosper._

_Varia smiled, she still had her doubts about this, but she knew her son was not about to change his mind. She just hoped her granddaughter would have an easier time than she did._

" _You'll do great" the King whispered to his daughter "My sweet, little Varian"_

/-/-/-/-/-/

"Everything is going to be fine" she heard her mother said while caressing her hair.

They were waiting on the Royal Quarters, her mother, grandmother and her, while her father dealt with the matters at hand.

The enemy has surrounded their city.

The room was mostly silent, except for the occasional word of reassurance her mother told her to keep her calm. Varian didn't know if she said those things to calm her or to calm herself.

Her grandmother, on the other hand, was silent, deadly silent, and her hands were closed in a prayer. She has learned from an early age that that could not mean something good.

She, on her part, was restless.

Being imprisoned here in the Royal Quarters was torture, she'd never liked to be limited to the same room for hours, and all that was going on outside the room's walls just made it worse.

She wanted to be besides her father, she wanted to know what was happening. Maybe she could be of some help.

But Llane has ordered her to stay here, said that she would be safe here in case anything happened.

Varian snorted at that. What could possibly happen?

Stormwind was impenetrable, her father has said so, and all the soldiers would fight to their last breath to defend the city.

There was nothing the orcs could do to change that.

She felt her mother's arms get tighter around her body, and she turned her head around to look at her.

Taria gave her a little smile and kissed her on the top of her head, rocking her a little on her arms, just like she did whenever she was sick or sad.

She snuggled a little closer to her mother's warm figure. This was a nightmare, she thought, she wanted to know what was going on!

The door crack open, getting the attention of all three of them, and in came an elderly man clad in heavy armor with a golden lion belt-buckle that was twice the size of Varian's hand.

"Sir Lothar" her mother said, surprised to see the man here, loosening a little the hold she had on her.

Last they heard, Lothar was on an special mission to Karazhan, have left to check the rumors of Medivh's, Llane's court wizard and friend, supposed treachery; so the fact that he was here could either mean something good or bad.

Or both.

"Anduin!" once the shock of seeing him have passed, Varian jumped off of her mother's lap and ran up to the older man, hugging his legs –which was as far as she could reach- and smiling up to him.

"Hey there, little one" he smiled softly back at her, but worry still laced his features, and he gently pushed her away from him and walked closer to the women in the room.

Varian stayed behind while the adults talked, paying close attention to all they said.

It hurt a little to know that Medivh have indeed betrayed them, she knew her father would take this news the harder, he has trusted in the wizard all this long and never believed in what was said about him.

It was, indeed, something tragic, and his death didn't really solve anything.

"…It shouldn't be long now. The King is meeting with Garona while we speak, hopefully they…" her interest perked right back up at hearing the orc's ambassador's name.

Being completely honest, Garona was the only 'orc' Varian has ever personally known, and even then she was only  _half_  orc.

Truth be told, she liked her quite alright. She was strong and skilled and has told her a few tricks about throwing knives that have come in handy way too many times not to be appreciated.

Llane trusted Garona, and that was already enough to do so too.

While Lothar kept talking to her mother and grandmother about the situation outside the city's gates and said that it would be best for them to evacuate the Keep, Varian looked back at the open door, having a hard time deciding whether to leave the three adults talking and sneak out or to stay put as she'd been told to do.

It…shouldn't be a problem; she just wanted to see her father.

So, with a promise to apologize to Anduin once it was all over, she left the Royal Quarters and headed to the Throne Room.

She passed several servants and guards on the halls, all of them surely recognized her, but they either thought nothing of her or were not fast enough to catch her.

Reaching the Throne Room, she heard voices talking, so she opened the door quietly, just enough to see what was happening on the other side, and stayed silent.

"…by nightfall. Until then, the Blackrock clan will be trying to take the eastern wall" that was Garona talking, and what she said made fear rise in Varian.

She didn't know how the city's defenses were holding up, but she did know the army that they counted with right now was not nearly enough to break a siege from all the orc clans combined.

"We will hold until the reinforcement come" the voice of her father resounded loud and clear through the Throne Room "As long as men with stout hearts are manning the walls and throne, Stormwind will hold" his words were firm, filled with pride and security, and they made whoever heard them feel reassured of what fate held for them.

Varian smiled and was about to made her presence know, when her gaze fell upon Garona.

The half orc had her lips pressed in a tight line, her hands were holding with such force her unsheathed daggers it must be painful, and a single tear dropped from her iris-less eyes.

"The orc leaders agree with your assessment" the movement happened too fast, and Varian was only able to scream once it was too late.

The daggers pierced through her father's chest as if it were made of paper, and blood poured out of the wound in ribbons of crimson.

Llane's pained scream was almost silent, or at least not as loud as Varian's own, and his eyes glanced at her direction before his body fell to the floor.

She ran to him, calling his name and shacking him once she reached him, the tears in her eyes blurring her vision and falling down on his motionless face.

The sound of steps going backwards had her turning back to face her father's murderer.

Garona was standing not too far from her, one of her daggers had fallen to the floor and the other was still dripping blood. On her left hand she held the bleeding heart of Stormwind's King.

Something Varian would never forget, and never quite understand either, was her face. It was emotionless. Blank. As if she was unable to have any feelings at all, except for the tears running down her cheeks.

Varian sucked in her breath and didn't move while the half orc looked down on her, and they stayed like that for a couple of seconds till the sound of the door being barged open and of armored footsteps broke the silence.

Garona bolted right out of the room, meeting the guards that have entered head-on, and she went back to her father.

She shook him, called for him, and did anything she could to wake him up. The logical part of her mind told her that it was useless, because he was not asleep, but she didn't wanted to believe it.

This has to be a dream, a nightmare, and illusion or something. This just simply couldn't be reality.

Strong arms surrounded her and pulled her against a plate-covered chest, and she was pushed away from her father and out of the room.

She trashed, kicked and fought against the arms imprisoning her, wanting to go back to her father. She didn't want to leave him.

Lothar tightened his hold on the little princess, feeling frustration and impotency starting to overwhelm him. And Varian was not making things any easier.

His sense of pride and loyalty told him that he should bring a swift death to the traitor that have murderer his king, but he couldn't. The royal family needed to be taken to safety, and he'll feel much better if he saw to it himself.

"Take her" he passed the girl to her mother, who'll have a better chance to calm her down than he did.

Varia and Taria followed him without looking back, and without asking any question. There was no point in doing so anyway. They already knew what had happened.

"Shh, it's ok, everything's going to be ok" the Queen tried to calm her daughter, who kept fighting against the restrictions.

But for every step that took them away from the Throne Room, Varian's strength decreased till she was just hopelessly crying on her mother's shoulder.

She closed her eyes tight, trying to force the images of her father's death off of her mind, but that was all she could see.

The daggers, the blood, Llane's face and Garona's tears. It all kept playing on her mind over and over again.

Soon they were out of the Keep, she could tell by the wind and the smell of smoke, and she could hear Lothar saying that they needed to reach the ports.

But something happened, something neither of them was expecting. An explosion of some sort came from their right, close enough to her mother and her that they were pushed back from the force of it, and Taria lost her hold on her.

Varian hit the ground full force, and she allowed herself to regain her breath before getting back up. Once she opened her eyes, however, she wished she had been knock unconscious by the fall.

The city that surrounded her, the same city that has seen her been born and saw her grow up all this years, the city she called home,  _her_  city, was burning.

Buildings were consumed by flames, windows shattered from the heat and smoke raised to the sky accompanied by screams she couldn't see whom they belonged to.

She stood there petrified, wondering how much time had actually passed since the events in the Throne Room, and how much longer would it take till everything she has ever known ended up like this.

From between the flames, she saw a figure nearing. Too muscular to be a human, too covered in ashes and blood not it's own.

She looked at it, and eventually it looked at her. Eyes glowing red looked at her for a moment, and she breathed in deeply, not really feeling panic as she wasn't really feeling anything at the moment.

Soon the orc came charging at her and the only thing she managed to do was open her eyes a little wider, in the back of her mind knowing what was coming but not being able to react.

That was not how it ended, however, because someone got in the middle of her and the orc.

Her mother had screamed her name and shielded her from the upcoming blow with her body, doing her best to restrain the orc's movements holding tightly to his weapon, even though the first blow she took should have ended her life.

Varian had wanted to scream, to help her mother in some way, but she couldn't order her body to move. She couldn't  _do_  anything, she was of  _no use_. She was just a hopeless child that managed to make everything worst.

It didn't took long for the orc to get rid of the Queen's body, but judging by his expression and angered growl, it had taken longer than he liked, and he threw it aside like a dirtied rag.

Taria's body hit the ground and her blood splattered around it, some drops landing on her daughter's face, being the thing that finally made her react.

The princess of Stormwind screamed, but not out of fear or panic, but out of rage and anger. Had anyone else heard it, they would have called it an animalistic growl, one that if left to grow old enough it would become a war cry that would strike fear into the hearts of the enemy.

And it will have a chance to grow,  _she_  will have a change to grow, Lothar will make sure of that.

In a quick movement he disposed of the orc, swinging his sword with as much strength as he has, letting some of his own frustration and anger go in that one blow that chopped off the beast's head.

"Take her!" he ordered the Queen-mother, pushing the little girl away from her mother's corpse and into her arms "We need to reach the ports before…!"

"The path is blocked" Varia interrupted the warrior while holding her granddaughter with force, who was again fighting against her restrains.

The explosions from earlier that had sunken this part of the city in flames had destroyed the bridge that they needed to go through to get to the harbor, and to reach the nearest one they had to go through the burning buildings.

Both adults looked at each other for a while, asking the other what they should do now. The only possible way to escape Lothar knew of was not a viable path, it required more risk than they could afford to take.

"I know a way" the older woman said getting up from her crouched position, Varian still trashing in her arms "Follow me"

Lothar nodded and sheathed his sword, and both headed to where they came from.

Once reaching the Keep, the Queen-mother did her best to avoid the Throne Room and walked to the Royal Quarters.

Compered to before, the place was practically deserter. A few soldiers and servants still came and go around the halls, but they paid no mind to them. They should, they'll regret not to, but they couldn't.

"Hold her" Varia passed her granddaughter, who had once again calmed down, to the elderly man.

She started searching the wall. She knew there was a hidden passage that leads to the mountains behind Northshire here somewhere, but she couldn't remember where exactly.

She had only seen it once, back when Adamant and her where just kids that liked to fool around and hide from their tutors.

After some time she found the stone that opened the passage and was about to push it when they heard a scream resounding from the entrance of the Keep.

"Go!" she told Lothar, opening the path and pushing him inside it "Follow it straight to the exit, the family in the other side will help you from there"

Lothar looked at her for a moment, understanding what she had implied with that, and she smiled reassuringly at him, even though fear was shining on her eyes.

Varia took a step closer to her granddaughter, caressing her hair and placing a sweet kiss on the top of her head, gaining Varian's attention.

"I love you, sweetheart" she said and closed the passage.

' _No'_  Varian watched her grandmother turn around and leave before the wall got close, and for the third time that day she felt the rage and hurt overtake her "NO!" she screamed once the wall was close, fighting against the arms that kept her restrained.

Lothar tried his best to keep her steady, but the little girl was fighting against him with a force he didn't thought she had, screaming all the while at the top of her lungs.

He considered himself a patient man, but right now his patience was running out, and for every struggle the child made, the feeling of failure grew.

He has failed to prevent this war; he has failed to foresee Medivh's and Garona's treachery; he has failed to protect his King, his dear friend Llane; he has failed his Queen and Queen-mother.

He has failed his kingdom, his friend and his rulers, and if Varian kept yelling like that, he would fail her too.

"Forgive me, child" he whispered in her ear and with a strong hit to the back of her head, he knock her unconscious.

Varian's world became dark, and she dreamed of her family.

She dreamed of her grandmother and how she always got mad when she didn't pay attention at the church. She dreamed of her father and all the stories he told her to make her sleep. She dreamed of her mother and how she'll always get worry whenever she picked up her training sword, but how she would always smile.

She dreamed about fire and blood, about a biting heart and tears, about red eyes and red-stained cloths, and about darkness and smiles.

When she woke up, she no longer felt the rage coursing through her veins. They were outside and the last rays of sun were illuminating the place.

Lothar put her down once he realized she was awake, and he went to meet the three people that came out of the little farm that overlooked the falls.

She didn't pay attention to them; instead she walked to the edge of the cleft and looked down on Northshire, wandering if they had suffered the same fate of Stormwind.

Behind her, Lothar was talking to the family that lived there, telling them that they should leave this place immediately and discussing about the fastest way to warn both Redridge and Westfall.

She hears them say something about an orphanage and a little port that they could go to, but she wasn't really listening. All her attention was on the city that lay behind the mountains.

If there's still a city there, that is.

She had left everything there. Her cloths, her training sword, her toys, her books…She had left her family there.

Her father, mother and grandmother laid there death, or worse. And she was here unable to do anything about it, unable to change a single thing.

She wanted to be back there with them. It was too much to let go and she couldn't do it.

Varian took one step forward and the ground disappeared beneath her feet. But she didn't fall; two strong arms prevented her to.

"No, my child! No, my child" Lothar said, desperation and anguish on his voice, and Varian looked down on the raging waters bellow, only now realizing what could have happened "It's not worth it"

The man's words made her chest hurt, and the tears ran freely down her cheeks.

"It's gone" she said, voice barely over a whisper "Everything's just…lost"

She felt the man shake his head against her and his own tears falling on her shoulder, and she realized this was the first time she had heard Lothar cry.

"The kingdom is not lost, my child" he said slowly, tightening his hold around her "Stormwind is not on the buildings and the bridges. It's not on the towers and the fields"

Varian looked up to the sky, over the mountains and the rising smoke, and watched the sun disappear in the distance.

"Stormwind is on her people, it's on you" he turned her around and graved her shoulders, forcing her to look at him "As long as you're alive, as long as there's a Wrynn on the throne, Stormwind will never fall"

He cupped her face and kissed her softly on the forehead, and she hugged him, crying freely on his shoulder.

And over the sounds of the burning city and falling water, Varian could hear a wolf howling at the rising moons.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OCed Character: What I mean with this is, because of some characters that are in no way explained in the lore, but that exist in the lore, to use them I had to 'invent them' myself. This are they cases of both Varian's mother and grandmother.  
> It is canon that Varian was named after his grandmother, Varia. But other than that, you know nothing of her. So this is all my invention. I also made up that part about her taking over the throne after Adamant Wrynn III, Llane's father and Varian's grandfather died (but just for a year, two years tops).  
> About his mother, well, that's even worse, as you didn't even knew her name (just that she was a noble from what's now know as Darkshire), till they gave some info on the upcoming Warcraft movie (I've edited this fic accordingly to those new facs, as I've originally made it before), so her personality and looks is all my idea.
> 
> Lore Changes: Well. I think I mostly kept in lore here. Time-lines, as I said before, are based on the old Warcraft lore (the one you saw in games and early novels/comics). The only mayor change I can admit to doing here, is the way Lothar and Varian escaped from Stormwind.  
> Ever since Cata-WoW and flying mounts on Azeroth, I came to love this little house/farm that was hidden between the mountains behind Northshire, in Elwyn Forest. And I always wondered what was the point of that little, deserted house there, so while writing this chapter, I remembered that little house and I decided to give it a propose myself =)
> 
> So, hope you liked it and c'ya!


	4. Chapter II:

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> During the first days in Lordaeron, tragedy strikes Bolvar's life again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter's warnings: Genderswap, Angst, sort-of OOC (again, you don't really know the characters), very minor OCs, and character's death.
> 
> Disclaimer: All I own is a Thunderfury key-chain, and Alliance necklace and an Alliance banner I share with my sister.

It's been five days since their arrival to Lordaeron, and the people were starting to get restless.

King Menethil had received them with open arms, and his people had given them food and shelter, but Mara knew this was not enough to calm their aching hearts.

"Here, try eating something" she said passing her rations to another woman, who had lost her husband on the war and procured to feed her two small children before eating herself.

Once she made sure all the refugees were as comfortable as they could be, Mara got up and looked around the camp.

After reaching the northern human kingdom, all the survivors had been separated into groups and taken to different settlement around it, and they have found shelter in a small village in the outskirts of the Capital City.

Now and then, other survivors came and go, looking for loved ones they had lost contact with during the evacuation, and she prayed all the time they would find those they were looking for.

"Have the supplies arrived?" she heard commander Saumell ask, and turned around to watch the older man approaching.

The capital had promised to send aid to the refugees, but them, as military-men, knew that it could take a long time for that to happen, and even then, there was no guarantee that it would be enough for all of them

"No, not yet" she said, smiling sadly at him.

They couldn't ask for more than they already had been given, and they were eternally grateful with Lordaeron, but the people would not stay put for long.

Already the despair was biting at their hearts, and they were trying their best not to let it break them, or themselves.

What would they do now? What would happen to their kingdom? Who, if any, would take the crown? Were they now citizens of Lordaeron?

Commander Saumell rested a reassuring hand on her shoulder, trying to share what little strength he had.

Mara sighed tiredly, looking around the camp once more. The sun was rising on their sixth day here, and news needed to come soon.

"A squire is approaching!" the call from the town's vigilance tower sounded loud and clear and Mara looked up to watch her son ringing the bells "A squire from the Capital is approaching!"

Commander Saumell and her rushed to the village front gate, followed by the few soldiers that had been assigned here and a few curious villagers. The gates opened and in came two raiders clad in heavy armor, the crest of Lordaeron shining in their breastplates and shields.

They stopped a few meters away from them and dismounted, walking towards Commander Saumell –who was obviously the highest ranking soldier there-, and after exchanging respects, one said:

"Sir, your presence is needed at the Capital. Royal orders" Mara looked at Saumell, who looked back at her with seriousness, both were trying to guess what this was about.

"Is there any problem?" he asked, not right out refusing the command he has been given, but not blindly following either.

King Terenas Menethil II may not be  _his_  king, but was the king who had helped them on their time of need, so the least they could do was pay him their respects, but there was no such thing as acting with too much caution in this situations.

The squire that had talked smiled at his question, and the other one surprised a laugh, which puzzled them, but before they could think they were been mocked, the first one said:

"I'm sorry sir, I think I didn't explained myself correctly" he bowed his head in apology, the smile still on his face "but this orders come from Sir Anduin Lothar, in behalf of Stormwind's Queen, her majesty Varian Wrynn"

A moment of silence passed between all of them, the news of their princess –now Queen-'s survival lifting a burden from all of their hearts.

"When…?" Saumell asked, almost breathless. The only thing preventing him from right down wiping was the overwhelming joy the news had caused him.

"They arrived two days ago at the Capital and are requesting the presence of those responsible of the evacuation of Stormwind City" among the people, the news of their young ruler's escape was resonating accompanied with cheers and praises to the Light.

Mara breathed in calmly, feeling relived for the first time in days, and ignoring the slight pain that assaulted her side, turned to talk to her commander.

"I'll take care of notifying the other survivors. Have a safe travel, sir" she smiled a true smile and was going do what just that when the Commander's words stopped her.

"No" Saumell had looked overwhelmed since hearing the good news, but now he looked serious once more "I'll notify the others, you go and meet with the Queen"

"Sir…" she was about to protest, but he was having none of it.

"They asked for the one responsible of saving our people, and that's not me Mara" he said, a smile gracing his lips, and he grabbed her shoulders to make her look at him in the eyes, to see the sincerity in them "Take your kid with you and take the credit you deserve. I'll make it an order if I have to" he finished with a little playful tone and, after biding his goodbyes to both her and the squires, went to do his task.

Mara blinked, surprised at what had happened. Commander Saumell had never been a greedy man, but she had not been expecting him to so easily pass on the honors he would have surely gotten.

"Ma'am?" the voice of the squire brought her back to reality, and she nodded to let him know that she'll be ready to go in a minute.

With a movement of her wrist, she signaled Bolvar to come down and he ran to meet her, and off they went to the Capital city of Lordaeron, to meet their Queen.

Lordaeron was an impressive city indeed. With its tall towers and streets of withe marble, it was very luxurious and beautiful.

So maybe it was their own sense of nostalgia that made them think that it was still not as impressive and beautiful as Stormwind is…was.

They reached the Keep's gates faster than they thought, and the squires guided them into the Throne Room. As soon as they crossed the gates, Mara felt a hand grabbing her own, and not needing to see to know that it was her son's, she held it tight.

Admittedly, she felt a little nervous too, never having met a royalty face to face before and not knowing what would happen.

"Your majesties" the squires knelt as soon as they reached the steps of the throne "Knight Fordragon is here, as you requested" the squires stood up and stepped aside, letting her near the throne.

"Your majesty" Mara offered King Menethil a small courtesy, which was received with a kind smile, and then focused all her attention on the two figures standing beside the throne.

There they were, Sir Lothar and young Queen Wrynn.

The old man was standing tall and proud, his features serious and his head held high. He was the perfect image of strength and rectitude. Only one thing didn't make the knight cringe in shame when his sight fell upon her, and it was the hand that held the little girl at his side. He was holding her little hand with such tenderness that it seemed alien to the expression on his face.

Varian, on the other hand, was the image of a broken child. Her eyes were casted down, her shoulder dropped and all her figure radiated sadness. She was not crying, but Mara guesses that it was not for lack of wanting. But what tugged at her heart the most was how she was holding for dear life to the man's hand, as if that was the only thing that was keeping her together and if she let go, she would just shatter.

"Stand up, soldier" she heard the voice of Sir Lothar, and only now realized that she had knelt down "Tell me your name"

"Mara Fordragon, my lord. Daughter of Silvia and Hector Asterin. Widow of Bradley Fordragon. Proud Knight of Stormwind" she said with pride, not once looking away from the man's eyes "And this is my son, Bolvar Fordragon" she put a hand on Bolvar's head, pushing him forward a little, and he bowed respectfully "He's training to join the army"

Sir Lothar nodded in understanding, and letting go of Varian's hand, who was looking up at them for the first time since they entered to room, he walked till he was standing right in front of Mara.

"On your knees, soldier" he ordered with a firm tone, and once she did as she was told, he unsheathed his sword and held it at his side.

Mara swallowed hard, not being able to suppress the feeling of dread creeping up her spine.

"King Terenas, do I have your blessing?" he turned slightly to look back at the other man.

"Of course, Sir Lothar, you may proceed" the King said solemnly, nodding faintly.

Lothar spared a glance at Varian's direction, giving her a small smile, before focusing again on the woman kneeling before him.

"Mara Fordragon, you had defended your city and her people. When circumstances called for it, you acted. You didn't faltered in the face of the enemy and didn't back down when death was certain" Mara kept her eyes down during his speech, a great part of her felt unworthy of his words, thinking of all the people she was unable to help "You took your people out of harm's way and guided them to safety"

Lothar raised his sword and firmly, yet carefully, pressed its edge on one of Mara's shoulder and then the other.

"Rise up, Lady Mara Fordragon, High Clerist of Stormwind. Matron of our people" he sheathed his sword and stepped back a few feet.

Mara stood up slowly, her mind hardly believing what just happened. She had known she most likely would get rewarded for her actions, but to get such a high promotion and a nobility title to boot?

"Sir, I…" she was speechless, this was more than she deserved.

"Not sir, my lady, we are equals, you and I" Lothar held a hand up to silence her, and smiled reassuringly, with a warmth she hadn't been expecting to see on him when she first saw him "You did more than I during the fall of our city" a shard of shame and regret shined in his eyes and he rested a hand on the little girl's head "Thanks to you, our people are safe"

Mara sighed, feeling all the stress from the previous days leaving her body, and the pain came back at her at full force.

The hurt from her broken ribs and pierced lung was so blinding and came so fast she couldn't even scream; and the coopery taste on her mouth made her rise a hand to her lips and touch the blood that went pass them.

She looked at Lothar's face, saw the confusion and panic swirling in his eyes, but couldn't hear what he said nor feel his arms as he tried to catch her when her knees gave up.

The last effort Mara did was to look at Bolvar, and faced with his sad and terrified expression, she asked for one last thing.

' _Light, grant me the strength…'_

/-/-/-/-/-/

Bolvar was sitting before the Keep's sick bay, patiently waiting for news of his mother.

He hasn't really been thinking since he saw her fall to the floor in the Throne Room; in fact, he was trying hard not to think of anything.

Thinking meant wondering what had happened, how could he not see the signs, how utterly useless he felt. So he preferred not to do it

Sir Lothar was standing nearby, like him, waiting for an update on Mara's condition.

Neither of them held any hope for good news.

Lothar looked towards the child sitting in the other side of the hall, feeling sadness biting at his heart at seeing another child so devastated.

The guilt assaulting him was almost unbearable. He felt that he should have done something, think of a way to prevent what had happened. It didn't mattered how many times he told himself that there was no way he could have possibly saw it coming, he felt that he should have known.

He should have changed it.

"Anduin…" Varian's soft voice brought him out of his musings, and he looked down at the little girl tugging at his cape.

He smiled at her. He felt terribly guilty for what had happened to her, for what she saw, but the last thing Varian needed right now was to see it.

The door to the sick bay opened and the priest that came out of it neared him, and he met him half way, no longer patience.

"How is she?" the elderly man clad in white clothes looked exhausted, and he sighed tiredly before answering:

"She has several broken ribs, cuts, bruises, internal bleeding…" he didn't kept on numbering things, there was no real point to do so "I don't explain to myself how she managed to survive for so long. She should be dead"

"Is she…?" he raised an eyebrow in wonder, confused by the priest's declaration.

"Barely. It shouldn't be long now"

Still sited on his place, Bolvar could hear all they were saying, but he pretended not to. Part of him didn't want to know. Part of him already knew.

His eyes were focused on his feet, but when he felt someone sit beside him, he looked up to find the young Queen of Stormwind.

Varian had really changed since the last time he saw her, for good and for bad.

For one thing she was taller, which was to be expected, and her hair was longer, reaching past her shoulders and kept off of her face by two smalls braids at both sides of her head that joined at the back of it.

She was paler, and looked slightly sick, but he understood why that may be. Her clothes were clean and elegant, but they were neither something a Stormwind Royalty would wear nor something that was made for her.

Her eyes were what had changed the most. They were no longer shinning with the excitement and bravado he had seen in them three years ago. Instead, they were opaque, tired and empty.

No, they were not empty, they were filled with sadness.

"Your name's Bolvar, right?" she whispered, looking at him by the corner of her eye.

"Yes, your majesty" Bolvar hesitated to answer, not really wanting to talk to anyone right now.

Varian, however, didn't say anything else. She didn't offered words of comfort, nor tried to cheer him up, nor tried to sympathize with him.

The only thing she did was cover his hand with her own, holding it in a loose grip that was easy to get rid of if he so wanted.

In a way, this was better than any of the other things she could have done, and it tugged strongly at Bolvar's heart-strings.

He no longer wanted to suppress the need to cry, so he let his tears ran freely down his face, leaning his head against the girl's shoulders.

"Lord Fordragon" after some time, a female voice called for him, although it took him a moment to realize she was talking to him "Your mother wants to see you" the woman clad in white priestess robes smiled softly at him and extended her hand for him to take.

She guided him inside the sick bay and towards the bed his mother laid pale and immobile on.

"Mother?" he called quietly nearing the bed, ignoring the presence of the priest and Sir Lothar standing on the other side of it.

Mara opened her eyes slowly, turning to look at Bolvar's direction, and smiled lovingly at him. If he didn't know any better, he'll think that this was one of those lazy summer days when he'll get up early and go wake her up so they could go swim in the Mirror Lake.

"Hey there, baby" Mara whispered, rising a hand to cares his check "No, don't cry" she said, touching the wetness in her son's face "It's alright"

He wanted to yell at her right then. It was not alright, how could it be?

She was…she…she was dying.

Bolvar bit his lip to contain the hopeless scream that wanted to leave his throat, and lowered his head so his mother wouldn't see the tears that he couldn't hold in anymore.

"Here, I want you to have something" she extended her hand to grab at the little bedside table were they have put all her stuff, and when she found what she was looking for, she offered it to him.

It was a simple scarf pin of blue sapphire and gold, carved with the image of the golden lion of Stormwind's crest. His mother has had this since he could remember.

"Your grandfather gave this to your grandmother on their wedding day, and she gave it to me on mine" she made him open his hand and deposited the pin on it, closing his fingers around it "And now it's yours"

"Mother…" Bolvar looked up, the tears blurring his vision.

There were so many things he wanted to tell her, so many things he wanted to express, but none of them was able to come out of his mouth.

Mara pulled him close for a hug, caressing his back to sooth him as best she could. There was no way to spare him of the pain from what was inevitable.

"I want you to promise me that you won't give up on your training" she told him, feeling her body starting to go numb "Take care of yourself and never give your back to those who need your help" tears started to run down her face, and Bolvar held her tighter, nodding his head in acceptance "I love you, never forget that"

"I love you too" he whispered, burying his face on her shoulder and hugging her with all his might.

He didn't want to let her go; he wasn't ready to face what would come once he did. But too soon arms were pulling him away from his mother, and a white sheet was dropped over her figure.

He fought the arms that restrained him, but they were too strong and he was too tired. Eventually he was pulled out from the sick bay and he was right where he was before entering.

The only difference between then and now was that now he was an orphan.

Bolvar stayed there, not knowing what to do. The same priestess that had guided him to his mother's death-bed was beside him, lovingly caressing his hair and whispering words of comfort to him.

Some other people were offering their condolences too, but he didn't care.

All seven kings from the seven human kingdoms could be here trying to make him feel better and he still would not care.

"I'm really sorry, lad" a strong male voice reached his ears and he looked up to see Sir Lothar standing in front of him.

He could see the sadness in his eyes, the regret and the guilt; and it made him feel a little better to know that there was someone else suffering as he did; even if for different reasons.

The older man rested a comforting hand on his shoulders, squishing a little for a second before letting go. Then, taking Varian's hand on his, he started walking away from the sick bay. It really saddened him all that had happened, but there was nothing he could really do.

Bolvar watched them go, feeling a sense of panic filing him with every step they took.

What was he going to do now? He had no one else and no place to go. What would happen to him?

Half way down the hall, Varian turned around to look at him, and their eyes locked for a moment.

He closed his eyes and forced all the negative feeling to the back of his heart. All his doubts, his fears and regrets, he suppressed them. They would do him no good now.

He made a promise, and by the Light, he'll fulfill it even if it is the last thing he'll do.

"Sir Lothar, wait!" he dried his tears and ran after them.

Lothar turned around at the call, letting go of his Queen's hand, and looked surprised at the young boy coming his way. More surprised was he at the determination burning in the kid's eyes, but not at all displeased.

"Sir, I wish to join the ranks of the army, sir!" Bolvar bowed his head but kept his shoulders straight, he was not going to take no for an answer.

Lothar looked dawn at Varian, who looked up at him, both asking the other what they thought of this.

"Listen, lad…" the older man started saying, but he was quickly interrupted.

"Please, sir! I know…I know I still have a lot to learn and that I may not be of much use, but if you give me one chance, sir…" he looked up, right at the man's eyes "I promise you won't regret it"

A proud smile curled Lothar's lips at Bolvar's determination, and turning to fully face the kid, he said:

"Being a soldier is not a child's game, son. It requires sacrifices" he said with a serious tone, piercing the boy with a glare "You'll be putting your life at risk to protect the Kingdom and its people"

Bolvar swallowed hard, but nodded. He'll be lying if he says he's not a little nervous, but he won't back down. Not now.

"You'll need to be brave. You'll need to be smart. But most of all, you'll need to me loyal" Lothar kept talking, his voice firm and severe, and his eyes watching Bolvar carefully, trying to catch any sign of hesitation "The crown, your  _Queen_ , comes first"

A moment of silence passed between them, while Varian looked up at Lothar silently.

"The safety of our Queen and our people is the most important thing in a soldier's life" the man's voice softened a little, but it was still serious "You swear to do whatever it takes to protect them, even going against their own wishes?" he asked, spearing a quick glance to the little girl at his side.

Bolvar glanced at her too. Varian wasn't even looking at him; even when she wasn't looking at the knight, the floor seemed to be far more interesting for her than he was.

"I swear" he answered without a second thought, his eyes going back to watching Lothar once the words left his mouth.

A smile graced the aging man's face. It was always refreshing to see young boys so committed.

"Very well" in moments like this one, the determination in this boy's eyes made the pressure on his shoulder a little easier to bear "In that case, I'm officially naming you our young Queen Varian's personal guard"

Bolvar's eyes widened as far as they could. He had expected to be named a squire and send to help with the refugees, but being part of the Queen's personal guard? He couldn't do that…

"I'll arrange for a room to be prepared for you, and I expect you to keep a close watch on our Queen from tomorrow on ward, understood?" Lothar smiled a little because of the boy's expression, and rested a hand on the back of Varian's head, who seem to be as shock as the brunet was.

Bolvar looked at his Queen once more, finding her stormy blue eyes looking back at him this time. He held her gaze for around a minute, seeing the little edge of mistrust on her eyes, not liking it one bit.

"Understood" he said, bowing respectfully. He didn't want the girl to look at him like that; he'll make sure she never looked at him like that ever again.

"Good" Lothar said and turned around, re-assuming his walk down the hallway.

Varian stayed looking at him for a while, she obviously didn't trust him, and he got the feeling that fulfilling his new duties as her personal guard would be difficult.

At the end, the Queen turned around and followed after her knight, and he didn't waste any more time to follow after her.

Bolvar Fordragon, Queen's guard…he kind of liked how that sounded…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lore changes: Hmm...the same that was explained in the last chapter. I don't believe that it was said that Mara's nobility tittle (Lady) and military rank (High Clerist) were given to her before the war, so I took a little bit of liberty there. Regarding the moment Lothar gives her those tittles, well, I tried my best to explain it as best as I could. Those kind of things are given by people of the royalty, so that's why I had him asking Terenas for his blessing, as sort of asking a King for permission to do so.
> 
> Regarding the circumstances of Mara's death, well I think you can guess it, but I'll clarify it in case there's any doubts. If you remember for chapter I, Mara was severally wounded by an orc's axe, and when she prayed to the Light for strength, to have more time to see the evacuation through, she felt a warm light coursing through her body.  
> At this point of time there's no Paladins, not as we know them at least, so she couldn't really heal herself, but the Light granted her her wish, giving her the possibility to take everyone to safety before dying.  
> So when Lothar told her that the people was safe thanks to her, that time expired and she succumbed to her wounds. I hope it's not too much confusing.
> 
> Hope you have liked it and have a nice day!


	5. Chapter III:

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No one ever mentioned that guarding his Queen will be this hard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter's warnings: Gendersawp, crying, crying and...more crying (well, it's not that bad, but...yeah).
> 
> Disclaimer: I used to have a Thori'dal, but I don't anymore...Oh my god, I miss it so much!

It was a beautiful day in Lordaeron and Bolvar sighed tiredly.

Winter here was a lot harsher than in Stormwind, and he was sure he was coming down with something. Not to mention that he's new 'job' as the Queen's guard was exhausting.

As he has suspected, Varian didn't trust him. She barely even talked to him, never saying where she goes, when she left nor waiting for him to find her before moving on to someplace else.

Bolvar would have been offended –more than he already was- if he were the only person his Queen seemed to be avoiding.

King Terenas' children, prince Arthas and princess Calia, were also in the girl's 'get away from' list.

He had met both kids before, however briefly, and he couldn't understand why Varian wouldn't get along with them.

They were both royalty, they both have been born with a silver spoon in their mouth. They were both well-mannered and energetic kids.

They both seem to share a lot of things with Varian. Arthas was her same age, and he loved to talk about battles and swordsmanship, and was really eager to start his training; and Calia, thought a bit older than her, was a girl and, well, Bolvar guessed that there were some things that girls preferred to do with other girls.

They seemed to be just Varian's type, but the dark-brunette avoided them like the plague whenever she had the chance –as she wasn't as rude as to ignore them when they were in the same room together.

To be honest thought, Lordaeron's prince and princess were a little bit… _persistent_.

More than once he had caught Arthas chasing after Varian, begging her to tell him more about her training or even show him some moves; or Calia dragging her by the arm, insisting that they should have a 'tea party'. Neither of them noticing how much the young Queen wanted to be alone.

He understood the two kids were doing it with the best of intentions. They were trying to cheer Varian up, and playing was the best way they could come up with. They were just kids.

Bolvar sighed tiredly at that,  _'You're just a kid too'_  was what guard Harrison, a friend and his most trusted source when it comes to find out where his Queen has gone to, had told him, but he couldn't help to think that he wasn't a kid anymore.

Not after the war. Not after what he saw. Not after his home city was destroyed.

Not after his mother's death.

Maybe…maybe that's why his Queen wanted to be alone…

Speaking of which…

"What do you want?" siting on a chair by the fire, his Queen glared at him, the reading of the book she held momentarily interrupted.

Bolvar suppressed a sigh of annoyance, and returning the glare with one of his own he entered the room –which, he noted, was one of the less used rooms in the Keep-, closing the door behind him.

"Your majesty" he said nearing the girl who has gone back to her reading, ignoring him "As I told you already, you need to tell me where you're going. You can't disappear like that".

How many times have they had this conversation? Ten, maybe twelve times? And it's only been two weeks since he was appointed as the Queen's guard.

"And I told you, I don't need you shadowing me" Varian said without looking up from her book, her frown deepening.

Bolvar sighed once more; he seems to be doing that a lot since he met this girl.

"I'm your guard, your majesty" he could  _literary_  feel the annoyance radiating off of the other "Sir Lothar…"

"Anduin can protect me very well on his own" he was interrupted and faced once again with angry stormy-blue eyes.

There were certain things that were 'delicate subjects' for the dark-brunette, and Anduin Lothar was one of them.

Anything that could be even considered a criticism towards the older man was responded by the spiteful glare of the young Queen. Sometimes even just uttering his name in a way she didn't like would make her jump in his defense.

"That's not what I meant" he understood why she did that, it was obvious.

Lothar was the last thing she had left.

Varian said nothing and went back to her book. Deep down she knew she was being mean to him, and felt bad about it, but she couldn't help it sometimes.

They stayed in silence after that, the Queen reading and her guard standing beside her, silently peeking at her book.

The minutes passed like that till somebody's voice could be hear coming from the hallway, loudly calling for the young Wrynn.

"Crap…" the girl whispered under her breath and hastily left her chair to find somewhere to hide, while her guard looked puzzled –and somewhat entertained- to her.

Bolvar was no idiot; he knew who was calling and why the girl was looking for a hiding place. He just still didn't get  _why_  she would need to do such things.

"Don't tell him I'm here" Varian said in a hushed tone while getting inside the empty closet on the room and closing the door, leaving the boy alone in the middle of the room.

"Varian! Are you in here?!" the door of the room was opened with force and a blond boy marched in yelling loudly for the missing Queen.

Bolvar stared at Arthas, and he stared back, a deep blush of embarrassment decorating his cheeks at being caught acting un-prince-like by his friend's subject.

"Is Varian here?" but if someone knew where the girl was, that would be the older boy.

Bolvar stopped himself before he could look at where his Queen was hiding, honesty demanded of him that he told Lordaeron's prince the truth, but his Queen has given him a direct order not to, and in a rather desperate tone, may he add.

"I'm afraid not, prince Menethil" he bowed respectfully and tried to convince himself that it wasn't so bad to lie about this; the Light will forgive him…right?

"Oh…" Arthas' shoulders dropped, and he kicked some of the dust in the floor in disappointment "Well…if you see her, tell her that dinner's ready and that she promised to let me see her training after it!"

Bolvar nodded with his head very slowly, finding really weird to see someone of such a high social status jumping up and down with excitement. Arthas left after that, continuing on his search.

"Is he gone?" Varian's voice came from the closet, and he assured her that the coast was clear "Thank you" she said getting out of her hiding place.

"Anytime, your majesty" he helped her dust off her clothes, one of the down sides of picking one of the rarely used rooms was that it got rarely cleaned "I just don't understand why you don't like him"

Wait…did he said that out loud? Oh, that was not good.

Varian looked at him with a frown on her face, and Bolvar readied himself the listen once again to the lecture of how his Queen's business were none of his concern, but to his surprise, that didn't happened.

"He's too…" the girl took a moment to find the right word that would express what she thought of the blond prince, but was not too disrespectful "…cheerful"

She left after that, and Bolvar sighed tiredly before following after her. No one told him that guarding his Queen would be this hard…

/-/-/-/-/-/

The sun was shining brightly upon the Keep's training grounds, and Bolvar was watching his Queen train.

He himself had has his training session done earlier, while she was having her breakfast –all in favor of keeping watch over the dark-brunette for as many hours of the day as he could.

Sitting on the ground not that far away from him, prince Arthas was watching the girl's movements with an entranced expression.

Was it bad from him to think that it was a bit creepy for the blond boy to do that? Especially when he would, from time to time, sort of mimic the movements he saw, doing a 'whoosh' type of sound under his breath.

But, well, he guessed it was alright, as long as he didn't interfere with the training.

Speaking of which, Varian didn't seem to have her mind into it. She was making sloppy mistakes, left a way to open spot on her right, wasn't caring for her defense as much as she should and the short-sword was weighing her down.

With almost ten years of age, Stormwind's Queen was starting to train with real swords, instead of the wooden ones; but if she kept on like this, his trainer was going to put her once again with the training swords.

Honestly, Varian was lucky that Master Anvilmar was not training her right now –he hasn't been on Stormwind during its destruction, thankfully, but for the time being he was staying at Dun Morogh-; the old dwarf would have not tolerated her slacking like that.

But, coming to think about it, maybe if she  _were_  training with Anvilmar she would be more focused.

"You're letting your right flank too open, Varian. Watch your defense" although, there was another person who could make her try harder.

Sir Lothar stopped just before the Keep's grounds, and looked down on the girl with a serious expression. A deep blush of embarrassment came to the young Wrynn's cheek, but she nodded in understanding, determination shining in her eyes.

Varian tightened her grip on her sword and straightened her posture, moving with more ease to follow her trainer's instructions. Ah, that was better. Now all of her training was showing, unlike before.

A little proud smile curled Bolvar's lips. If there was one thing people of Stormwind could be proud of, was the quality of their soldiers, from lowest to highest rank.

"How're you doing, lad?" Lothar's voice brought him out of his mussing, and he looked up to see the knight. His head was still turned in the direction of the dark-brunette, but he was looking at him by the corner of his eyes.

"Fine, Sir" he answered, bowing respectfully.

"Great, now" this time, Lothar did turn and looked directly at him, those serious eyes now watching him "How are you  _really_  doing?"

Bolvar swallowed hard, he hadn't expected the older man to see through his lie.

It wasn't technically a lie, per se. He  _was_  fine in great aspects, and there were a lot of people in worse situations than his, so he didn't have anything to complain about, but…

"It's hard, Sir" he sighed and looked down on the floor "She doesn't trust me"

Lothar didn't say anything, just let him vent out his frustration, for which Bolvar was thankful.

"This place is too big, she goes away and I can't find her and…and what would I do if something happens anyway?" he had to stop himself, the need to cry out in frustration was big, but he had promised his mother to be strong. So he took a big breath and let it out slowly, calming down.

"I'm definitely not the right person for this job, Sir" he said sincerely "Anyone else would be better"

Since he was appointed as the Queen's guard he had thought that there must be a way more qualified person for the job, but he hadn't wanted to go against the older man's orders. But right now he was sure he wasn't right for the job, his patience was running out and his Queen's reluctance to accept his company only pushed him more against the edge.

"Son, if I thought she wouldn't be safe here, I wouldn't have brought her in the first place" Lothar said, turning to look at Varian once more.

"But if you don't think she needs any protection…" Bolvar was confused, and it showed up clearly in his tone of voice "Why did you make me her guard?" what was the point?

Lothar sighed and crossed his arms across his chest, looking sadly at his Queen.

"I won't be staying here for much longer, lad" the Horde was still a threat, and none that lived in this part of Azeroth wanted to believe that, so he needed to forge alliances, make an army and prepare for the incoming war.

He needed to take back Stormwind. He owned it to Llane, and he owned it to Varian.

"When I leave and the nightmares return, she'll need someone to be there for her" he couldn't take the little girl with him, it wouldn't be safe; and he was sure she will not enjoy being left behind.

"I thought that was  _their_  job" Bolvar made a dissimulated gesture towards the side, where Lordaeron's prince and princess were watching the training going on.

Arthas was excitedly cheering up for Varian, while Calia, who has joined just recently, was frowning down on him, scolding his childish attitude.

"They are just children" the old knight said "Look at them. Naïve, wide-eyed and innocent" he didn't sounded judgmental in anyway, in fact, you could said he sounded envious "They don't know what's really behind this walls. They haven't seen what she has"

But Bolvar has. That's why he was perfect for the jobs. It was not a matter of protecting her  _physically_ ; it was about protecting her  _emotionally_.

Comforting her, supporting her, but most of all,  _understanding_  her, that was his job. And in return he'll get the same thing, someone who knew what he was going through, a shoulder to cry on.

But none of that would work if Varian didn't open up to him; however, he didn't tell Lothar that, he just stayed quiet and watched over his Queen.

/-/-/-/-/-/

It was late in the evening and Bolvar yawned, exhausted.

Azeroth's two moons were shining brightly on the sky and he was ready to go to bed, he just needed to find the way to his quarters.

The Keep was huge, and its intricate corridors had been designed in such a way as to easily disorientate any potential invaders; so he was only  _slightly_  embarrassed to admit that he has still not memorized his way around.

In yet again another corridor he couldn't remember ever walking through, he saw one of the room's door was open ajar, dim light coming out of it and a hushed conversation could be heard.

Curious and knowing that it was his duty as a soldier to investigate any suspicious activity -but mainly just curious-, he neared the open door. And though he knew it was bad to eavesdrop, he stayed as quiet as he could to hear clearly whatever the people in the room were saying.

"But I don't want you to go!" it surprised Bolvar to find out that that was his Queen talking, in a rather desperate voice, may he add.

Shouldn't she be on her bed? He had escorted her there himself –not that she had liked that-, what was she doing here? And coming to think about it wasn't this…Sir Lothar's room?

"I have to go, child" taking a dissimulated look into the room, he confirmed that it was indeed Lothar's room "You know what's coming, you know we need to prepare ourselves"

The dark-brunette girl was wearing her nightgown while sitting in the middle of the bed –which made him believe that she had come here after waking up from a bad dream, looking for comfort-, and the man –clad in common clothes instead of heavy armor- was walking from one side of the room to another, picking different things he'll need to take on his upcoming journey.

"Then take me with you!" Varian said loudly, tears gathering on her eyes and holding tightly to the bed sheets.

"I can't and I won't" Lothar didn't look at her, it would be hard for him to deny his Queen's desire if he saw the distress he was causing her "You'll be safe here"

"I'll be safe with you!" the dark-brunette got down from the bed and marched towards the older man, hands held in tight fist "This is not fair! Why do you want to leave me? You promised…!"

"Stop this!" the man's fierce voice shut up any complain the girl may had made "You will not behave like a spoiled child, as you have  _not_  been raised as one!" Lothar looked down on her with a frown on his face "You  _will_  stop this nonsense and you will  _not_  accuse me of something you know well I have not done!"

Varian stayed quiet, eyes open wide and tears running down her face, and once the knight finished talking, she bolted right out of the room.

Bolvar tried to take a step back, but the girl still ran into him on her way out, the knight's calls of her name being ignore completely.

He watched his Queen go, and a sense of duty and empathy made him go after her.

"Your majesty!" he called, but she didn't slow her pace.

They ran through several corridors till they reached a dead-end, and she couldn't run anymore.

"Your majesty" he said, panting, and neared the other.

"Don't call me that!" he hadn't expected Varian to yell like that, and he stayed rutted to his place some few feet away from her, looking wide-eyed at the girl.

Her whole body was shacking, in either anger or sadness or both; her hands were held in tight fist and tears were running down her face.

"My father is…I'm not" she tried to said, but hiccups and sobs rendered her words a bubbling nonsense.

Bolvar, carefully, took one step closer towards his Queen, then another and another, till he was right behind her.

He didn't know what to say to make her feel better. Was there really anything he could say?

He still cried himself to sleep every night holding tightly to his mother's pin, and he doesn't believe there's any word that could change that.

So he didn't say anything, and just put his arms around her in a loose –and a bit awkward- hug.

After sometime, Varian turned around in his embrace and hugged him back, her hands clutching the back of his uniform while she cried freely on his shoulder.

Bolvar pat her softly on the back, his own heart clenching painfully, and spared a quick glance to the presence behind them.

Lothar has catch up to them, but he stayed at a safe distance, watching over them with a mix of relief, concern, regret and sadness swirling in his eyes.

Bolvar held Varian tighter, the need to cry his heart out finally winning and tears ran freely from his eyes to land on the girl's shoulder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope I'm not making them too OOC. More happy moments to come! (you know, as happy those two can be).  
> Thank you for reading and hope you liked it!
> 
> C'ya!


	6. Chapter IV:

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Living in Lordaeron wasn't as bad as Bolvar thought...and Varian can be mean sometimes...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everybody! First of all, I'm sorry for the long wait, I had a mayor case of writer's block and college isn't really helping me move on with the story.
> 
> Anyways, I know this is short and it mostly is just a filler chapter, but I hope you like it! Don't forget to read the end notes for clarification about lore changes and time-lines!
> 
> Chapter's warnings: Gederswap (duh), some minor lore changes (see end notes for more info), kids being mean to each other (just for fun, they're kids), child nudity (I'm putting this here just in case, there's not really anything, but better safe than sorry) and a pointless chapter is pointless.
> 
> Disclaimer: If Warcraft were mine, Arthas would be my number one favorite character, as I wouldn't had let him revive Sylvanas. But as you know, she is very much (un)alive, so that means I do not own it.

The snow fell slowly to the ground and a smile curled Bolvar's lips. It was cold, sure, but it was a beautiful sight.

He had come to like a lot the frozen purity of snow, getting to see it was one of the perks of living in Lordaeron –as it didn't snow in Stormwind.

The loud sound of a sneeze had him turning around to glance towards someone who didn't enjoy the snow that much.

Varian cleaned her nose with the sleeve of her trench coat, which earned her a smack on the head for acting so un-lady-like courtesy of Calia, and walked as fast a she could to reach him.

The snow almost reached her knees, which made it hard for her to move –she has fallen face first twice already-, the still falling snow had made it impossible for her to train outside –doing it inside wasn't the same, it had more limitations- and she had probably catch a cold, so it was understandable that she was in a little bad mood.

  
"How're you feeling, your majesty?" he asked nicely, but he was sure that some of the amusement he felt could still be heard on his voice.

"Fine" the nasal tone she had made it much easier to notice the bad mood she was in, and before she could clean her nose with her coat again, Calia cleared her throat, and reluctantly she used her handkerchief –which made the older girl smirk in satisfaction.

"I told you to call me Varian" Bolvar smiled at his Queen's annoyed comment, and nodded, but he was sure that he will call her by her title again before long. It was still a bit hard for him to get used to being so informal around his superiors.

"Why did we agreed to come?" the dark-brunette started numbering every reason why this has been an stupid idea, while he listened attentively…well, half listened, half mentally sighed about having to hear the same every time they went out.

"What's so great about snow anyway? It's cold, it's colorless, it's…" and of course, there was  _that_.

Varian's complains had been interrupted by a snowball right on the face, and the laugh of a certain blond boy was heard. The snow slowly fell from the girl's face, and her expression quickly changed from shocked to angry, and Arthas was still laughing when she jumped on him, throwing him on the ground as they started rolling around on the snow, fighting.

Bolvar chuckled, amused, and Calia sighed, disappointed. They didn't even bother to try and stop those two; they would stop when they got tired and wouldn't really hurt each other.

"How do you like Lordaeron so far, Lord Fordragon?" the princess asked, a big smile curling her lips when she looked at the brunet.

"It's quite alright, princess" he smiled back, hiding his hands on the sleeves of his coat "I didn't know snow would be such a sight to withhold"

"Is it the first time you see snow?" Calia blinked, confused, snow has been there for most of her life, and even though she knows that Stormwind is a long distance away from Lordaeron, she had thought it snowed there too.

"Yes, it is" he looked up, it wasn't snowing as hard as it had some hours ago -barely two or three snowflakes now and then- but he liked to see them fall anyway "Unfortunately; it does not snow in my kingdom"

Well, unfortunately for him, a certain warrior apprentice he knew may not agree with that.

"What?!" an astonished yell interrupted them, and Arthas looked up at them from his position on top of Varian, his baby-blue eyes opened as wide as they could go "You have  _never_  seen snow before?" he asked the girl underneath him, this surely has to be a misunderstanding, how come his friend hadn't seen  _snow_?

"Of course I have!" Varian frowned, seriously, what was so great about snow? It was just frozen water "I've been to Dun Morogh"

"Really?" curiosity quickly replaced indignation in the blond prince's voice, and the young Queen took advantage of his moment of distraction to roll them over, and she grabbed his arm and pushed it further up his back till he started yelling 'I yield, I yield'.

Varian let go of Arthas and sat on the snow while he sat across from her, frowning and rubbing his abused arm, and when she showed him her tongue in a mocking gesture, he threw some snow at her.

They were about to start their fighting again when the loud sneeze of the dark-brunette interrupted them.

"We should head back inside" Bolvar said, a worried frown marring his face, and the other three nodded in agreement.

/-/-/-/-/-/

"The weather's expected to improve in a few hours" Bolvar said and Varian grunted in anger.

They had got back to the castle right on time, as a snowstorm has started not that long after.

The young Queen looked from her place in the tub towards the window, glaring at the sight of the blizzard outside and cursed her damn luck. A day has gone since the storm started and it didn't look like it was going to stop any more than it had an hour ago.

With his back to her, Bolvar was wishing for its end too. Because it was too cold for his liking, and he couldn't get outside; but mainly because he couldn't stand hearing Varian complain about it any longer.

Cold weather and the young Wrynn didn't get along, and she had gotten sick the other day, so she was in an even worst mood than she would have normally.

The brunet didn't want to say anything negative about his Queen, but she was getting on his last nerve…

Maybe not being able to go outside was getting him on a bad mood too.

Varian sank deeper into the warm waters of her bath, its edge almost reaching her nose, and cursed winter for the tenth time that hour.

She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, the vapor from the bath alleviating her congestion a little, and she got under water soon after.

"Have you heard any news?" the dark-brunette asked after some time, grabbing the soap and starting to wash herself.

Her guard risked a quick look at her, guessing by her expression what kind of 'news' she was hoping for.

"Last I heard, Sir Lothar was heading for a meeting with King Perenolde of Alterac" that has been no less than five days ago and both kids were dreading that something has happen to the knight.

Bolvar looked down and tried to repress those negative feelings. Sir Lothar was more than capable of defending himself, and for now, the mayor threats between Gilneas –where Anduin has gone to first after leaving Lordaeron- and Alterac was the wildness and the occasional thief or troll scout, nothing the older man shouldn't be able to handle. He surely just didn't have enough time to send a letter.

"I worry too" his Queen's voice interrupted his trail of thoughts, and he turned around to look at her, seeing the sad and empathetic look in her eyes. But he soon turned back around, a blush prominent on his face.

He had  _not_  expected her to be half way out of the tub.

Varian scuffed annoyed at her guard's reaction to seeing her naked. She understood why he found it improper to see her in such state, but found it stupid nonetheless. As everyone, she has been thought that boys and girls shouldn't see each other without clothing unless married, but whenever she asked  _why_ , all she got was 'it's just not right' as an answer, which was not nearly good enough to be so scandalized about it.

She chose not to point that out to Bolvar thou, he got too twitchy when he was uncomfortable, and even if it was fun sometimes to watch, she didn't feel like doing it.

She got out of the tub, confident that she was clean enough –although she was sure Calia would disagree, but nothing short of 'sparkling clean' was good enough for the princess, so she didn't really care-, and covered herself with the rob that had been left hanging nearby by the maid that had prepared the bath.

"Any other news?" she has been sick and bedridden for the last two days, so rumors didn't really reach her. And although Arthas has spent a lot of time by her side, all he really wanted to talk about were past fights in the history books and about this horse he just couldn't wait to go visit once the storm was over –the first subject was interesting, the other was just plain creepy-, plus he wasn't the gossipy type, so she wasn't up to date with what has happened outside of her room.

"The Ironforge's Ambassador should be arriving between the next weeks. That is,  _if_  the storm doesn't delays them" which, if what was happening outside the window was any indication, would happen.

Varian frowned and tried to remember the dwarf ambassador's name. She knew it was one of King Magni's brothers that have been appointed as the representative of the Khaz Modan dwarves, but for the life of her, she couldn't  _remember_  his name.

Was it Mandarin? Moldarin? Muradin?...she was pretty sure it was Muradin, she should ask someone for confirmation thou.

Anyways, those were good news. She has been eight years old last time she had seen Magni, and she held fond memories of that month in Dun Morogh –she didn't hate snow as much back then-, and even thou this was his  _brother_ , not Magni himself, it was still good to see something that wasn't totally foreign to her. And if rumors had it right, her trainer, Hjalmar Anvilmar, would be accompanying the Ambassador.

"Anything else?" the joy in her voice was easy to notice after so many days of just brooding around, and her guard was finally not so reluctant to look at her directly.

"There's a rumor going around that the daughter of Lord Admiral Proudmoore is interested in studying the arcane arts" Bolvar mentioned while helping his Queen dry off her hair. It was really all he could think off as relevant information, besides the usual castle drama, any other important news were regarding the Stormwind survivors, and he knew that the other knew about that –and that she was just as impotent as him for not being able to do much about their situation.

"I thought he had a son" the young Wrynn has  _never_  met Daelin Proudmoore before, but she had –sort of- met his son; but she has been five years old at that time, so all she had was a vague image of a young boy, not that much older than Bolvar was now, talking to his father, and that was all she had to relate to the Proudmoore name.

"He has  _two_  sons and a daughter" the brunet clarified, turning around to let the girl change in peace.

Varian tried to imagine what the girl would look like. If rumors had it right and she was indeed interested in studying the arcane arts, then she would have to visit Lordaeron on her way to the kingdom of Dalaran, and even if she wasn't, or chose to be thought back in Kul Tiras, as the princess of one of the seven human kingdoms, they will meet  _eventually_. But then again, all she had to go by was a vague memory of her brother, so it was useless.

All that she came up with was that she was probably  _blonde_ , as all kids up north seem to be blond somehow.

The girl frowned, taking a lock of her hair to exanimate it. Its dark brown color sure didn't make her feel any less alienated to the people here; no matter how many times Queen Lianne said she had beautiful hair, it just felt too different.

"Your majesty?" a knock on the door and the timid voice of a maid caught her attention.

"Come in" she called, fastening her belt.

The maid opened the door and did a quick check around the room, her eyes falling on its  _male_  occupant.

Bolvar started fidgeting under her disapproving glance, feeling extremely guilty even if he had done, and seen, nothing. The fact that the other was still not fully dressed wasn't really helping his case. Why had he agreed to accompany the girl during such a private moment?

"Do you need something?" the annoyed voice of the dark-brunette startled the maid, who has been too busy berating the boy with her glare that she had forgotten there was someone else there, and she stuttered an apology and bowed respectfully.

"Diner would be served soon, your majesty" she said, head down as she was still embarrassed that her superior had to call her attention, and as soon as Varian said that she'll be right there, she bowed once more and left quickly, closing the door behind her.

Bolvar sighed relieve that the maid was gone. He knew he shouldn't have been with Varian while she bathed. Now he would have to do some damage control to stop the rumors that were surely going to spread like wild fire thanks to this little accident.

In moments like this, he was really grateful that the head of King Terenas' private guards had agreed to teach him how to keep these situations under control.

After three months living here, he should be an expert at this; or at least, he should know better than to let his Queen put him in this kind of situations.

Speaking of which, said Queen was now doing a poor attempt at holding her laughter.

Varian knows that her guard didn't liked it when people got the wrong idea about him, and she honestly hadn't meant for a maid to misinterpret what was going on when she has asked for his company; but she just couldn't avoid to laugh at the miserable and resigned expression the boy had on his face while thinking about all the things he will now have to do.

"It's not funny" Bolvar frowned, more than a little angry at the girl, but it only served to make her laugh harder "Stop laughing!" that may had been a little too commanding from him, but he had the right to be, an anyways the other didn't listen and kept on laughing.

He contemplated the idea of pushing her into the now cold waters of the tub, and he did after a while, but for now, it sure was nice to hear Varian laugh.

To be continued…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lore Changes: It is cannon that Jaina has an older brother, named Derek, who fought (and died) on the second war, but it is also mentioned in the RPG guide that she has another brother (a younger one I believe), and although the RPG is not taken as cannon, I decided to use that little fact 'cuz...well, I like it.
> 
> In the novel, "Rise of the Lich King", you know that Muradin was in Lordaeron when the refugees from Stormwind got there, but I decided to change it a little bit, because I thought it would be weird than Muradin and Varian wouldn't have much interaction knowing that Varian was friend of Magni, Muradin's brother. Things won't change much, as we are adapting the events of that novel into the old timeline.
> 
> As I said before, I'm using the old time-lines, those which you played with at the games, so there's going to be a six year difference between First and Second War. 'Cuz, honestly, the new time-line makes it so that like, a month passed between them, and that just make no sense. I mean, try going from Buenos Aires to Washington on foot and that should be more or less the same distance the orchis horde should had made to reach Lordaeron. Plus you're talking about an army here, not just one person. An army that needs food, provisions and rest and could't relay solely on things that came through the Dark Portal. Not to mention that they had to fight against the dwarves of Khaz Modan on their way there. So, in my opinion, six year makes more sense, and I'm going with that.
> 
> There will be some other lore changes related to that, but those will be explained further on.


	7. Chapter V

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bolvar and Varian sneak away from the Keep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, hey there! This was long overdue, wasn't it? But why waste time discussing all the reasons and excuses to why it took so long, when you can just go ahead and read the new update!
> 
> So enjoy chapter 5 of this fic! And don't forget to read the notes at the end!
> 
> Chapter's warnings: Genderswap (obviously), Angst, Lordaerons's guards are terrible at watching children, Angst, Time-skip! (this is roughly a year after the last chap, just like the update!), Angst, this is still a pointless filler, and did I mention angts? (seriously, this is full of that s%&t)
> 
> Disclaimer: I did crafted the warrior legendary card of Varian and got the paladin's one of Bolvar in HeartStone, does that count as owning anything of the Warcraft franchise? It doesn't? Oh, ok then.

Once church was over, people started to head out the door, and keeping a pace slow enough not to be notices, yet sufficiently fast so as people believed that she had followed them, Varian moved through the crowd till she was effectively left behind without them noticing.

The young Queen slowed her pace to a stop near an open window, watching carefully the retreating masses just in case someone decided to look back, and once sure that she was safe, she counted to three and jumped through the second floor's window.

On another part, Bolvar was peacefully sitting on the grass just outside the Keep's sick bay, back resting against the cold stone wall and eyes focusing on the shadow it cast on the ground.

Once said shadow reached the designated place marked earlier with a stick, he got up, stood just below the upper floors' windows and extended his arms.

He counted to three and soon found himself with an arm-full of Stormwind's Queen, having to bend his knees so as to sustain the sudden weight without dropping the girl or hurting his arms.

"Right on time for a change" he said with a smirk on his lips, but the other smirked right back, not taking offense in his comment.

This was the fifth time they had agreed to sneak away from the Keep without permission or supervision, so they knew the routine by heart now.

The moment of the day when the Keep's guard was more disorganized –not that Lordaeron's soldiers weren't good at protecting their nobility by any means- was during the half-hour between the church's end and the change of guards, as most soldiers were more focused on ending their shift as to pay attention to two children getting away.

"You got everything?" Varian asked and Bolvar nodded, putting her down and throwing a bag, which has been previously resting besides him, at her.

He turned his back to her, letting her change out of her light summer dress and into her common cloths in peace, and went over the path they needed to follow on his mind just to be safe.

"I hope you weren't too bored" the dark-brunette said, tying her boots as fast as she could, feeling guilty for making her guard wait for her while she was at the church.

Honestly, he has been bored out of his mind.

On a normal day, Bolvar would had accompanied his Queen and the Menethil family while at church; but this day in particular, a considerable amount of nobles had come to the capital to discuss one matter or another, and he had preferred to stay out.

Even if a year and a half had helped him to come to terms with his title of 'Lord', those had been more nobles than he could handle.

"It could've been worst"

/-/-/-/-/-/

The ride to the city of Brill wasn't a very long one, but just to stay out of sight from the soldiers that patrolled the roads, they chose an alternative route through the forest. The hoods and capes were just an extra measure.

The city itself wasn't that impressive, especially compared to the neighboring capital; in fact, the most interesting aspect it had were the two zeppelin towers rising high above the other buildings; but the city housed a considerable amount of refugee from Stormwind, and that's why they were going there.

Getting through the city's gate was getting swallowed by a sea of people coming and going, going about their business. Most were workers in charge of constructing the necessary buildings needed to sustain the still growing population, as Brill received immigrants in an almost daily basing, due to the farms surrounding the city that offered jobs the refugees couldn't afford to deny; but there were also farmers and merchants trying to sell their goods.

Bolvar guided the horse away from the flow of people, towards the stables, which were almost full with costumers leaving or taking their mounts.

"Back again I see" one of the stable hands greeted them coming to their aid, a friendly smile decorating his lips.

Bolvar and Varian, or as they were called here, the siblings Bradley and Taria, were known among the refugees as the charitable children of an accommodated merchant that wanted to give a hand to those in need.

"It's hard to stay away"  _Bradley_  returned the smile, handing over the horse's reins and dismounting, followed by  _Taria_.

/-/-/-/-/-/

There wasn't much they could do, being so young, but there was always something that needed to be done, and no one was about to turn down such willingly volunteers. So while Bolvar assisted the construction workers by carrying around tools and materials or lifting minor weights, Varian had been enlisted by one of the local cooks to distribute food among the children and elders.

"Cheer up, child!" one of the old women told the young Queen, getting her out of the trance she has been in since reaching the city "You'll look just like me if you keep frowning like that" the playful tone and placid smile of the woman indicated that she meant no offense, she just wanted to humor the other.

"Uhm..." the brunette didn't know how to react to the comment, she hadn't pay much attention. Has she really been frowning all along?

"I know this isn't the most glamorous of jobs, but someone has to do it" the woman kept talking, her cheerful tone not wavering for even one second "and at least you're not one of those poor stable boys cleaning horse's droppings all day" she leaned in closer for that last comment, as if sharing a secret, putting an horrified expression, and that ultimately got a laugh out of the girl.

"It's not that" Varian didn't mind doing simple things as serving food, making beds or tending to the children; if it meant helping her people in any way, she'll do it.

What kept her worried was the knowledge that no matter what was done here, it wouldn't be enough.

Her people needed a permanent solution, not temporary measures; and she didn't have the power nor the resources to do anything about it.

"What's your name?"the old woman asked her, seeing that she was brooding once again.

"Taria" she answered, passing a bowl of stew and a piece of bread to the elder.

"Just like our former Queen" a sad smile curled the woman's lips, and she took the offered food but didn't taste it "Poor Tary, she was such a nice young woman" the last was said in a whisper, probably not meant to be heard by anyone, but Varian did heard it.

"You knew her?" people always made comments like that one with a great deal of sadness when talking about her late mother, but this particular one was said with such a degree of personal involvement that it made her wonder if it was just what any citizen would said about their Queen, or something more.

The woman ate a few spoonfuls of the stew and looked back at the brunette girl, her cheerful smile back on her lips, but an edge of nostalgia lingering on her features.

"Well, of course my dear, you're talking to her old nana" she said, her smile getting bigger as more fond memories of those times came back "Tary was such a sweet little girl, and she loved me almost as much as her own mother at that time"

"Really?" Varian couldn't help but to be a little skeptic about that, as her mother has never mentioned a beloved nana from her childhood.

"Oh, we drifted apart after she got married and moved to the capital" an edge of regret could be heard on the woman's voice, maybe lamenting the break of a bond as dear as she had implied before "I wish I had gone with her, but my own daughter required my help with her children, and I knew Tary would have all the love and support she needed"

"It must has been hard to hear what happened to her" the dark-brunette kept on distributing food among the people, but made sure to stay close to the elder woman; it was kind of nice, hearing someone talk about her parent. King Terenas and Queen Lianne seem to always change the subject when she brought it up.

"Terrible indeed. Tary didn't deserved what happened to her" the woman put her plate of food aside, even thou she hadn't finished it; the smile on her face was gone, replaced by an expression of both sadness and anger "To lose her boys like she did and then end that way...it's not fair at all"

"What?" Varian asked perplexed after a second of letting those words sink in, stopping her movements and looking straight at the woman.

"Oh, I'm sorry dear, I forgot you're too young" the woman said looking at her hands resting on her lap, the anger in her voice was gone, although the sadness was not "Nobody likes to talk about those things"

"Talk about what?" the Queen asked, a part of her desperately wanting to know what the woman had meant, the other dreading the answer.

"Before her Majesty, Queen Varian was born, my sweet Tary lost two children. Two baby boys ripped away from their mother way too soon" the woman closed her hands in tight fits, tears gathering at her eyes. She still remembered the letter Taria had send her when she found out she was pregnant for the first time. It has been the last letter she ever send her.

"I dare not think what those savages had done to their graves"

/-/-/-/-/-/

"Leave that as it is boy, come have some lunch" one of the workers told Bolvar, watching over him while he finished to put away all the tools that had been used.

"I'm almost done" he smiled at the man, assuring him that he need not worry and should go have his lunch before the break was over.

The man nodded and let him be, and Bolvar hurried up to finish. He needed to find Varian and go back to the Keep before anyone notice they were gone. There wasn't much they could do in the few hours that they could stay here, and he would like to stay for longer, but they couldn't risk anyone from the capital finding out what they were doing, as they could forbid them to come again.

"Bolvar?" but he didn't had to search for his Queen, as she called him.

" _Taria_..." he turned around, ready to scold the girl for using his real name, must he had not expected to see her like that "...are you alright?"

Varian looked sad and shaken about something, and she shook her head 'no'; so her guard went to hug her and offer some comfort.

"You want to talk about it?" he asked, patting the girl's back, who has started crying as soon as she was in his arms, but she shook her head 'no' again and held on tighter to his figure.

The sound of hoof and clanking armor alerted Bolvar that the soldiers that patrolled the city were getting near, the same soldiers they needed to avoid, but the dark-brunette was not moving and didn't seem to care about being discovered.

So he sighed and held his Queen closer, already planning what to say to King Terenas to avoid any severe punishment.

/-/-/-/-/-/

"...completely irresponsible, reckless, unacceptable behavior!" as he had expected, the scolding had come immediately after they were brought back to the capital, and standing in the middle of the Throne room with King Terenas chiding them for their action, Bolvar felt not much unlike a small child being berated by its parent for running too far away.

"You had any idea what could had happen to you out there, while no one even knew you were missing?" sitting on her Throne, Queen Lianne looked sympathetic towards the children, but didn't objected to any of her husband's words, as they deserved them.

Bolvar was feeling terribly guilty for disobeying the rules, remembering several occasion when his mother or father had said similar words to the ones Lordaeron's King was telling them right now.

Looking to his right, he saw his Queen looking at her feet, thou she didn't seem to be affected by Terenas' words. She appeared to be lost in thoughts, and she hadn't said a word about what had happen in the village that had made her so upset.

"What say you in your defense?" Terenas asked them, a stern look and a frown on his face, and Bolvar was about to apologize and explain their reasons when the dark-brunette opened her mouth.

"Did you know?" Varian asked, gaze rising from the floor, and her question both surprised and confused the older King.

"Know what?"

"About my brothers" the girl answered immediately, a scowl slowly marrying her features "Did you knew about them?"

Terenas and Lianne sheared a concerned look, they had not expected Stormwind's Queen to bring up that particular subject, and so they didn't know what to say in response.

Of course Terenas knew about Varian's late siblings. For the Light's sake, he has met Varian's  _great_  grandfather on his early childhood, and had been childhood friends and playmates with her grandfather, Adamant. And even if nothing of that had happened, he was still one of the Kings of the seven human kingdoms, he always knew that kind of information.

"I...I thought you knew" he stuttered those words, because how do you tell a child that she has to mourn more people than she already has?

"I guess my parents never got the chance to tell me" Varian said almost in a whisper, looking dejectedly at the side.

A tense silence fell in the room. Lordaeron's King and Queen hadn't known how to approach subjects such as this with their adoptive daughter. They had promised sir Lothar to look after and protect the young Wrynn, and they had thought that avoiding such hurtful thing till they deem her old enough was the right thing to do.

It obviously hadn't.

"Nonetheless..." Terenas cleared his throat and quickly changed the subject, he was still scolding this children for running away "There's still no excuse for your actions. Running off like that..."

"With all due respect King Terenas..." but he didn't get to finish, the dark-brunette's voice interrupted him. Her stormy-blue eyes looking at him with fury, a frown marrying her face and hands tightening in fits besides her.

At the back of his mind, Terenas thought that with a look like that, Varian would make a damn good warrior and politician when she grew older.

"It's not your place to tell me that I can't check on my own people!" everyone else fell silent before the girl's words, three pairs of shocked eyes looking wide at her "Nor whether I can or can not help them!"

Varian yelled that last part, shaking from the force of her anger, and she didn't wait for the others to react before leaving the room, ignoring the calls of her name that followed her retreat.

"Let her go" Queen Lianne said, talking for the first time since the children had entered the throne room, and sighed tiredly, not joining the two males in their attempt to bring the other back.

"She's upset" she simply said, looking at her husband with a sympathetic smile. Varian had been disrespectful, yes, but she'll come to regret and apologize about it.

The woman knows the girl's anger hadn't been caused by them, and talking while she was still furious would surely just bring hurtful words for everyone involved. Once she calms down they can try again, she'll be more receptive then, Lianne is sure.

The King surrendered to his wife's wisdom, falling on his throne exhausted. Parenting was hard work, and he had thought his two kids were already a handful, with a third one things just got more complicated.

"Lord Fordragon,  _please_ , explain to me what were you two doing" he rested his head on his hand, looking at the still remaining teenager in the room. Varian wasn't a rebellious child, and he wanted to know  _why_  she had defy his rules in such a way, he wanted to  _understand_.

"We were helping the Stormwind refugees in what little way we can" Bolvar answered honestly. His instincts told him to go after his Queen, but King Terenas deserved an explanation.

"You could have  _ask_  to go" the older man sat straighter in his throne, looking at the teenager with less severity "I wouldn't have forbidden you to go,  _with_ an escort"

"And show our people that their Queen can do nothing but serve food and hand out tools?" the sadness in the boy's voice was palpable "Or worse yet, that we can't do  _anything_ without another King's approval?"

Terenas sighed tiredly, he could understand the children's reasons and concerns. He couldn't even begin to think how he'll feel if he were in the young Wrynn's situation. It shame him to admit it, but he sometimes forgets that she was ruler of a kingdom as well, she was so young.

"I'm sorry we sneaked away, your majesty. I'm sorry we disobeyed, but..." Bolvar looked at his feet, he did feel guilty about breaking the rules "In all honesty, I will do it again"

King Menethil looked at the teenage Lord, whose gaze barely moved up from the floor.

In raising Varian -trying to-, he had used the same method that he used in raising his own children. He had attempted to keep her away from the world outside the Keep and its danger, to give her a childhood as free from the court games and troubles as possible.

It wasn't working, and he was unsure of what to do.

"You may go now" he said, and the brunet boy bowed respectfully before leaving the throne room, and he leaned back on his throne, exhausted.

Lianne smiled at him, resting her hand on his shoulder to show him her support, and Terenas smiled back. He'll figure something out.

/-/-/-/-/-/

"And you didn't know anything?" Calia's question was the only thing spoken in the room after a tense silence, after the other girl had explained what had happened to her.

"No" the young Queen was sitting on the floor, back against the wall and arms around her knees, pushing her legs to her chest. In front of her, the Princess sat on her feet, unsure of how to act, while the Prince sat to her right, one arm stretched to pat her back in an awkward attempt to soot her.

That was how Bolvar found them when he came into the room, all the things he had thought to say to the dark-brunette forgotten the second he saw the state she was in.

"Do you want to play sword-fight?" Arthas asked with a shyness the older boy hadn't seen in him before, still petting the girl's back and baby-blue eyes sympathetic to her sadness.

Varian shock her head no, hugging her knees tighter and unconsciously moving away from the blond boy's touch.

"I just want to be alone for a while" she said, voice barely above a whisper.

The two siblings looked at each other with concern, they felt that they should comfort their adoptive sister, even if they were unsure of how to go about doing it, and didn't want to leave her alone, but she was asking for it and maybe they should respect her wishes, at least for now.

In time both left the room, not before hugging the young Queen to reassure her that she had their support, and Bolvar and Varian were left alone.

Bolvar stayed silent, maybe he should have left as well, but he wasn't going to. It was his duty to protect and stand by his Queen, even if she wanted to be alone.  _Especially_  when she wanted to be alone for reasons like this.

"It's stupid, you know?" Varian said after some time in silence, and the way she spoke made him think that she was more talking to herself than to him.

"All this time...I've missed them, I've mourned them, I've cried every time I thought about them..." The girl's stormy-blue eyes were looking into space, some tears getting caught in her eyelashes "But I've never realized all the things they're going to miss, all the things they never got to tell me"

Varian's voice hitched, sobs starting to wreak her form, and Bolvar didn't have the strength to go hold her. Her words were hitting too close to home.

"I never got to say goodbye to my father. The last thing my mother said to me was that everything would be alright, right before she was killed. And the last image I have of my grandmother is her sacrificing herself so Anduin and I could escape"

They have never talked about this, not in detail. It was never their own personal experience what they had shared when discussing the downfall of their Kingdom. And even those times had been scarce.

It wasn't something easy to talk about.

"I never got to say goodbye to father, either" it was an afterthought, he hadn't meant to say it, but Bolvar felt compelled to share, even if just a little.

Varian looked up at him, having hidden her face on her knees, surprise to hear him talk, as if she had forgotten he was even there. Perhaps she had.

"He died during a skirmish against Horde raiders, a year before the war" He haven't thought much about his father, it had been so long ago.

Or at least it felt like so long ago, especially when he compared it to all that had happen nearly a year and a half ago, but he didn't think he had mourned properly. Or maybe, as Varian said, had never realized what his father will miss, what he never got to tell him, to teach him.

His father would never see him grow into a proper man. Would never see him become a great soldier. He'll never get to feel proud of his accomplishes, of the bravery he shows in defending his Queen and his Kingdom. He will never get to be with him, if and when he gets marry and has his own children.

"All I got left of him is his sword" his mother will never get to see that, either, but Varian already knew how she died, had been there when it happened.

They stayed silent after that. Varian stopped crying and Bolvar never got closer.

/-/-/-/-/-/

"You're sure you  _know_  what parrying means, right?" the girl's mocking comment echoed in the empty hallway, and Arthas shoved her on the shoulder in retaliation.

They've just finished one of their sparring sessions, which as usually consisted of the blond boy falling repeatedly on his arse till he got tire of trying.

Sir Lothar taught Varian not to be smug about her skills, but sometimes she couldn't help to rub it on the Prince's face, just to annoy him.

He was annoying most of the time, begging her to teach him some sword fight or talking about his horse. So was it  _really_ bad for her to take some jabs at his awful, awful skills with a sword?

They laughed together soon after, Arthas knew not to take to heart what Varian said, and thou she won't tell him, he wasn't as bad as when they first started doing this.

"Your majesties" a soldier called for them, and they waited for the man to reach them, who bowed respectfully once he was in front of them.

"Queen Wrynn, King Terenas requests for your presence in his office" it was mid-afternoon and no one was expecting them till their lessons started, at least two hours from now.

Varian swallowed nervous. She hadn't faced Terenas since their 'argument', she felt awful about her reactions but haven't have the courage to confront him about it.

Arthas held her hand and squeezed a little to let her know that it was alright, that everything would be fine. He had tried to convince her since the alternate had happened, two days ago, that his father  _wasn't_ mad at her; but Varian has a hard time believing it.

She was mad at herself, so why shouldn't the older man be as well? He has every right to be, and she certainly wouldn't blame him.

She exhaled heavily and followed the soldier. If Terenas  _was_  mad, and she was almost certain he was, she better not make him wait.

/-/-/-/-/-/

She took a deep breath and knocked on the door, opening it slowly when a call of 'come in' was heard from inside.

Varian peeked around the open door into the office, cautious still to go inside, spotting Terenas behind his desk signing away some papers. She bit her lip nervously, and forced herself to enter the room.

"You asked to see me?" she said quietly, looking at anywhere but the older man. How was she supposed to tell him how sorry she was for last time? She had been so disrespectful and rude and completely out of place, how could she even  _begin_ to make up for it?

"Yes, I did" Terenas put down his quill and smiled at the girl, thou she didn't see it "Come, sit" he mentioned for a chair to his right and waited patiently for the girl to take her seat.

Varian held tightly to the leather of her training armor over her knees, refusing to look at the King, ashamed. This was the closer they've been in two days, and she regretted not having Bolvar here with her. The brunet boy would have offered his support and told her what to say if needed, but he had agreed to accompany Calia for the evening, so he couldn't be here.

"Varian..." he called her after a while in silence, realizing the young girl wasn't going to make the first move.

"I'm sorry!" the dark-brunette suddenly said, bowing her head in shame "What I said, it was wrong. I didn't mean it, I shouldn't have..."

The elder's laughter interrupted the girl's tirade, and she looked surprised up at him, having not expected such a reaction out of him.

"Is that what has you so upset, child?" Lianne had told him so, have assured him that the reason Varian wasn't approaching him was because she was too embarrassed about her actions, not because she was still mad at him, as Terenas had feared "Don't worry about it"

"But..." the tense set of the Queen's shoulders relaxed a little "I shouldn't have talk to you that way"

"It could have gone differently, yes" he nodded in agreement, both their actions could had been handled in a better way, but that was in the past now "I do hope, however, that you understood why I was angry at you that day"

Varian nodded, gaze lowering to her hands once more, relaxing their grip on the leather kneecaps now that the nervousness was gone. She hadn't honestly listened to Terenas' scolding back then, her mind had been in another place at that time, but she had understood, later, what had worried the Menethil King and Queen.

"I hope you understand why I did it, too" she said very quietly, afraid this  _will_  anger the elder. She couldn't say she regretted what she'd done. She didn't, actually, and couldn't neither promise she won't do it again.

"Say..." they have finally reached the subject Terenas had meant to discuss, and he recited the words he had so carefully selected prior this meeting "Have I ever told you of the day I sold all my possessions?"

Varian looked up at him once more, a look of confusion crossing her face. She shook her head 'no' as such story hadn't been told to her, but what did it had to do with anything?

"I was about your age. There had been a bad harvest that year, and everyone was stressing over what to do when winter started.

"Nobles came and go, ambassadors from different nations spend hours upon hours in meetings with the council, people gathered at the Keep's gates asking for help!...It was a disaster.

"My father explained to me, that we simply didn't have enough money to buy food for everyone. And I wanted to help, so you know what I did?" he paused for a second, an bemused smile curling his lips at the entranced way the girl was looking at him, who shook her head 'no' and let him continue.

"I gathered all my toys, some books and most of my garments and sneaked out of the castle to sell them.

I found a man on the road who was willing to buy them. Shady old fellow, with a hooded cape and all, but he said he was giving me a fair deal, so I accepted and went back home, proud of the gold that I had gotten for the people.

I guess you can imagine the scolding I received from my parents once I got back" he laughed a little at the memory, noticing that some of the things his parents had told him back them were the same he had told the young Wrynn two days ago.

"But the worst part was finding out that the gold I have received in exchange of my possession, wasn't even remotely close to their real value. And even if I had gotten the real price, it wouldn't had been of much help" he laughed alongside the dark-brunette girl, he had felt so devastated at that time, but now he could look back at it and laugh.

"But you know what I learned from that experience?" he didn't feel ashamed of that childhood mistake. It had been a lesson, one he had learned very well, one he intends to teach his adoptive daughter.

"That you shouldn't trust strange old men in hoods?" Varian said jokingly, and Terenas laughed as well, the tension between them from earlier completely gone by now.

"Besides that" he shook his head and scolded his features into seriousness "I learned, that good intentions can get you so far, that it is knowledge what helps you guide them in the right path"

Varian's stormy-blue eyes lowered to the floor, and she pondered the elder's word. Terenas was content that what he said had gotten through to her, and pulled out a thick, leather-bound book from his desk's top drawer, putting it with a heavy 'thub' in front of him.

"This is the  _Corpus Juris Civilis_. It contains all the laws, statutes and codes of Lordaeron, old and new" he passed the pages with care, as some of them were centuries old, dating back to the few decades after the fall of the Arathorian Empire "Volume One, of course"

Varian needed to learn this things, and as much as Terenas had wanted to give her a childhood as free from the court's issues as possible, he couldn't keep her away from politics any longer. She was a Queen, regardless her age, and he'll make sure to prepare her to lead her kingdom once she gets it back.

"Of course, Stormwind laws are different, but until the copy of the  _Assizes of Thoradin III_  that I ordered gets here, I guess I could teach you about international and trading laws" he paused, resting his hand over an open page, and looked at the young girl, who seemed perplexed about everything he just said.

"That is, of course, assuming you're willing to give two hours a day, everyday, to learn" he had to ask, as he couldn't force her to learn if she didn't want to. She had to be willing to better herself, or she wouldn't be fit for her position.

Varian said nothing for a moment, looking at the yellowish pages of the huge tome with a bit of apprehension. Laws? Politics? She knew next to nothing about those thing, so far her strength had been her swordsmanship, and two hours spend studying law meant two hours less to polish her skills.

The decision came easier than she first thought. There was no real decision to be made, when she came right down to it, and looking up at Terenas, with a serious expression and determination clear in her eyes, said:

"Of course"

To be continued...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lore Changes: Well, not much as 'lore change' as a 'lore appear' instead. Since the announcement of the upcoming Warcraft movie (upcoming as in still too damn down the road!), Blizzard finally gave Varian's mother a name, Taria. So I used her now-cannon name here and I will change the previous chapters accordingly.
> 
> And that's it, actually. I don't remember where it was said, but it was said that Varian learned politics and how to rule a kingdom from Terenas, and Terenas is an old fella and it's said that Wrynn men died young, so it's head-cannon, but still totally possible that he had met Varian's great-grandfather.
> 
> The 'Corpus Juris Civilis' is an actual book, one of the first law books known, it's title means 'Body of Civil Law'. And the 'Assizes of Thoradin III' is taking use of the word 'assizes' which was used to name several compilations of laws and codes during the middle-ages (such as the 'Assizes of Ariano' or the 'Assizes of Jerusalem')
> 
> The Arathorian Empire, or the Empire of Arathor, was the first great human nation, ruled by the Arathi bloodline. Its greatest king was Thoradin, who decided to aid the high-elf of Quel'Thalas during the Troll Wars, for which the elves agreed to teach magic to humans. In time, the empire fell and divided in the Kingdoms of Lordaeron, Dalaran, Guilneas, Alterac, Kul Tiras and Arathi, while the heirs of King Thoradin sailed south and founded the Kingdom of Stormwind. The last descendant of the Arathor was Anduin Lothar.
> 
> Now, it's not know when or why the Wrynns ended as the ruling family of Stormwing instead of the Arathi, but it seems logical to me that some of the kingdom's rulers would be named after such an important figure in human history, and maybe one of them decided to writhe a law book, why not? Is totally plausible.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is also published in ff.net, and I'll try to update here and there at the same time (or without too much difference, at least).  
> So, I hope you have liked this so far and thank you for reading!


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